Research institute president: CDC funding study on injuries related to guns ‘bad logic’

(The Center Square) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding a three-year study on injuries suffered from gun violence in New Mexico.

The study will record data for non-fatal gunshot wounds, which will allow the state to more efficiently direct resources toward prevention, according to gun control advocates.

Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, a free-market research institute, thinks using the CDC to study gunfire injuries is “an improper use of a government agency.”

“That doesn’t strike me as the appropriate organization to address anything relating to guns,” Gessing told The Center Square. “It should be more of a crime/law enforcement kind of study, not a disease control-oriented study.”

He said it seems as if the anti-gun lobby is trying to frame gun violence as a public health issue. Gessing believes this strategy will backfire, since most people don’t think guns are a disease.

In addition, over the course of the ordeal with COVID-19, the CDC forfeited much of its credibility, according to Gessing, who said he used to think the CDC was a nonpolitical entity until he observed its handling of the virus.

“Now we’re just going to toss on top of that another politically charged issue that isn’t even in their wheelhouse, it strikes me as very troubling and bad logic,” he said.

The CDC is awarding New Mexico $150,000 per year of the study, the New Mexican reported.

Miranda Viscoli, co-president of the nonprofit New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, is excited about the study, the article stated.

“The more we can get any data [on gun violence]…the more we can work on prevention with a multipronged approach,” Viscoli said, as reported in the article. “…There is an uptick here in New Mexico, and we need to rein it in. We needed to rein it in 20 years ago, and now it’s getting worse and worse.”

Guessing agrees that crime is a key factor in the state’s gun violence, but points to addressing crime rather than gun control as the best course of action.

He said such studies neglect to record how many injuries and deaths are prevented by lawful, competent gun ownership, which skews public perception on guns and violence.

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