The brewing fight over California gun violence research

WASHINGTON —  A lawsuit in California and a fierce partisan battle over government spending in Washington threaten to undermine scientists’ efforts to better understand gun violence.

As lawmakers in Washington work to pass federal appropriations bills, Republicans are hoping to cut spending. Their targets, I reported this week, include around $25 million in annual federal spending on gun violence research.

Academics know very little about gun violence, its causes and potential remedies, in part because from 1996 until 2019, Congress refused to fund any research on the subject.

In the interim, researchers in California led the way, thanks to the state’s data access laws, which let academics trace firearm transactions in a way that is impossible in other states. But a pending lawsuit has called into question California’s decades-old data practices, and Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are threatening to get rid of the little funding available on a federal level.

The two fights could mark a turning point for gun violence research in America. Without funding and data, researchers would be left mostly unable to answer fundamental questions about violence that kills tens of thousands of people a year.

“It’s going to be a fierce battle,” said Mark Rosenberg, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who oversaw early efforts to research gun violence in the 1990s.

Hello, I’m Owen Tucker-Smith. I cover national politics for the Los Angeles Times, where I’m looking into the state of gun violence research in America.

A tense period for gun laws

Last summer, the Supreme Court tossed out much of the precedent that surrounds gun laws in America, causing a flurry of lawsuits as gun rights advocates questioned the constitutionality of many of the nation’s firearm regulations. California has historically positioned itself as one of the country’s leaders when it comes to gun control — but now, legislators aren’t sure which laws will stick and which won’t.

A state law that requires the California Department of Justice to share certain data with scientists is also in question.

While gun researchers desperately want Americans to view their work as apolitical, many 2nd Amendment advocates worry that gun research is an effort to restrict their firearm access. That’s why the federal government stopped funding gun research in the first place — and why House Republicans want to put a stop to the limited funding that exists now.

Looking forward

Senior academics once discouraged younger researchers from pursuing gun research, warning that the work wasn’t financially viable. But that changed when federal funding resumed four years ago, and the number of scientists actively investigating gun violence increased. If Democrats in Congress are able to preserve funding for gun violence research this year, the field could continue to grow.

Researchers want to better understand how best to prevent gun violence. They want to understand how different demographic groups experience gun violence differently.

But without funding and without California’s critical data, much of that work won’t be possible.

The latest from the Hollywood strikes

— Biden appears to have accepted the fate of his secretary of Labor nominee Julie Su, who will continue to serve as acting secretary even though her confirmation bid is all but doomed in the Senate, Times writers Courtney Subramanian, Owen Tucker-Smith and Erin B. Logan reported. But the White House, which has praised Su as a preeminent dealmaker, especially when it comes to California labor issues, has been reluctant to have her intervene in the Hollywood strikes.

— Writers took to social media this week to express dismay at Universal Pictures for trimming the leaf cover of trees near where people were picketing, Times writers Dakota Smith and Anousha Sakoui reported. The temperatures have risen above 90 degrees in some parts of Los Angeles in recent days, creating a new challenge for demonstrators, some of whom have been on strike since early May.

The view from Washington

— President Biden and other U.S. leaders have voiced objections to Israel’s new judicial reform law and urged the Israeli government to seek consensus as massive demonstrations continued to fill Israeli streets week after week, Times writers Tracy Wilkinson, Laura King and Melanie Lidman reported. Though Washington gives Israel billions of dollars for security each year, that aid is considered sacrosanct, giving U.S. officials little leverage.

— The House and Senate are taking significant steps to increase the federal government’s ability to monitor and identify UFOs and to force the military to release more information to the general public, Cameron Joseph reported for The Times. Three former military officers who claim they’ve had encounters with unidentified flying objects will testify to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

The view from California

— A California court case highlights the central tension over the exploding use of geofence warrants, Times writer Queenie Wong reported. Law enforcement leaders see Google location data as essential for solving crimes, but civil rights groups fear such warrants will infringe on the privacy of innocent bystanders.

— A federal judge in Oakland on Tuesday blocked a Biden administration rule that limits migrants’ access to asylum at the southern border, casting doubt on the future of a key policy aimed at limiting crossings, Times writer Hamed Aleaziz reported.

— In a talk at a climate summit in New York, Gov. Gavin Newsom in September said he “had to jam” his own Democratic Legislature in order to pass a series of climate bills in the final days before lawmakers adjourned last year, Times writer Taryn Luna reported. The comment frustrated his legislative allies back in California and prompted Newsom to embark on an apology tour to smooth things over.

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