The Dickey Amendment is a provision first inserted as a
rider into the 1996
omnibus spending bill
An omnibus spending bill is a type of bill in the United States that packages many of the smaller ordinary appropriations bills into one larger single bill that can be passed with only one vote in each house. There are twelve different ordinary a ...
of the
United States federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fe ...
that mandated that "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
(CDC) may be used to advocate or promote
gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
." In the same spending bill, Congress earmarked $2.6 million from the CDC's budget, the exact amount that had previously been allocated to the agency for firearms research the previous year, for
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...
-related research.
The amendment was
lobbied
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
for by the
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
(NRA), and named after its author
Jay Dickey
Jay Woodson Dickey Jr. (December 14, 1939 – April 20, 2017), was a Republican U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 2001. The amendment known as the Dickey Amendment (1996) blocks the Centers for Disease Con ...
, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
.
[ Although the Dickey Amendment did not explicitly ban it, for about two decades the CDC avoided all research on ]gun violence
Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and ...
for fear it would be financially penalized. Congress clarified the law in 2018 to allow for such research, and the FY2020 federal omnibus spending bill earmarked the first funding for it since 1996.
Adoption and effect
In 1993, the ''New England Journal of Medicine
''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one.
His ...
'' published a study by Arthur Kellermann
Arthur L. Kellermann (born 1954) is an American physician, epidemiologist, professor of emergency medicine at VCU School of Medicine, and CEO of the VCU Health System. He was formerly professor and dean of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine ...
and others found that guns in the home were associated with an increased risk of homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
in the home. The research was funded by the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's mission is to provide leadership in preventing and controlling injuries, i.e., reducing the incidence, severity, and adverse outcomes of injur ...
(NCIPC). The NRA responded by lobbying for the elimination of the NCIPC. The NCIPC was not abolished, but the Dickey Amendment was included in the 1996 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 1997.[
In a December 2012 article published in the '']Journal of the American Medical Association
''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...
'', Kellermann wrote: "Precisely what was or was not permitted under the clause was unclear. But no federal employee was willing to risk his or her career or the agency's funding to find out. Extramural support for firearm injury prevention research quickly dried up."[
Equivalent "Dickey Amendment" language was added by Congress to the ]Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 () is an act passed by the 112th United States Congress.
Provisions
The act provided $72.53 billion in non-emergency, discretionary budget authority for FY 2012, a decrease of $1.2 billion fr ...
funding the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
(NIH). This language was also lobbied for by the NRA.[
]
Calls for repeal
In response to this amendment being adopted, the American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
adopted a resolution condemning it.[ In December 2015, multiple medical organizations, including ]Doctors for America
Doctors for America is a 501(c)(3) national, multi-specialty organization of physicians and medical students in the United States with a stated goal of improving affordable health care access. The movement, which was created by the Obama campaign, ...
, the American College of Preventive Medicine
Founded in 1954 and chartered as a non-profit organization in 1956, the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) is an American physicians' organization focused on practice, research, publication, and teaching of evidence-based preventive me ...
, and the American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an American professional association of pediatricians, headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It maintains its Department of Federal Affairs office in Washington, D.C.
Background
The Academy was founded ...
, called on Congress to repeal the amendment.[ That same month, the ]American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
also called for an end to this amendment. Other groups calling for repeal of the Dickey Amendment include the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is the national organization representing the interests of pharmacy education. Founded in 1900, AACP comprises all accredited colleges and schools with pharmacy degree programs, including ...
, American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...
, American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref>
See also
*American College of Physicians
The American College o ...
, American Medical Student Association
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), founded in 1950 and based in Washington, D.C., is an independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. AMSA is a student-governed national organization.They have a membership ...
, American Public Health Association, and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, previously known as the Legal Community Against Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is a national public interest law center and nonprofit organization that promotes gun safety legi ...
.
Mark L. Rosenberg
Mark L. Rosenberg (born 1945) is an American physician and public health researcher. He joined the Task Force for Global Health in 1999, retiring as president and CEO in 2016. Rosenberg also served as Assistant Surgeon General and as Rear Admiral ...
, the former director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's mission is to provide leadership in preventing and controlling injuries, i.e., reducing the incidence, severity, and adverse outcomes of injur ...
, has described this amendment as "a shot fired across the bow" at CDC researchers who wanted to research gun violence. Enactment of the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which prevented the CDC from using its funding "to advocate or promote gun control," largely shut down research into gun violence in the United States. CDC funding of gun violence research declined by 96 percent while academic publications addressing gun violence declined 64 percent between 1998 and 2012.
In a 2012 op-ed, Dickey and Rosenberg argued that the CDC should be able to research gun violence. Dickey has said that he regrets his role in stopping the CDC from researching gun violence, saying he simply didn't want to "let any of those dollars go to gun control advocacy."
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
in 2012, President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
directed the CDC and other federal agencies to "conduct or sponsor research into the causes of gun violence and the ways to prevent it." The CDC responded by funding a research project and conducting their own study in 2015. That month, a spokeswoman for the agency, Courtney Lenard, told ''The Washington Post'' that "it is possible for us to conduct firearm-related research within the context of our efforts to address youth violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and suicide. But our resources are very limited."
In October 2015, 110 members of Congress, all of whom were Democrats, signed a letter calling on Congress to reject the amendment. Despite the efforts of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
to have the Dickey amendment removed from the spending bill for the following year, Congress passed this bill with the amendment still in it.
Subsequent history
On March 21, 2018, Congressional negotiators reached a deal on an Omnibus continuing resolution. The $1.3 trillion spending agreement also includes language that codified Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's interpretation of the Dickey Rider in testimony on February 18, 2018, before the US House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. While the amendment itself remains, the language in a report accompanying the Omnibus spending bill clarifies that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can indeed conduct research into gun violence, but cannot use government appropriated funds to specifically advocate for gun control. The bill included no funding earmarked for gun safety and was signed into law by U.S. President Donald J. Trump on March 23, 2018.
The fiscal year 2020 federal budget included $25 million for the CDC and NIH to research reducing gun-related deaths and injuries, the first such funding since 1996.
See also
*Gun law in the United States
In the United States, access to guns is controlled by law under a number of federal statutes. These laws regulate the manufacture, trade, possession, transfer, record keeping, transport, and destruction of firearms, ammunition, and firearms acc ...
*Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics within American politics is defined by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. Those who advocate for gun control support increased regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose incre ...
*Gun violence in the United States
Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually, and was the leading cause of death for children 19 and younger in 2020. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, th ...
*Tiahrt Amendment
The Tiahrt Amendment ( ) is a provision of the U.S. Department of Justice 2003 appropriations bill that prohibits the National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from releasing information from its fi ...
References
{{Reflist
United States federal firearms legislation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Social problems in medicine