After decades of near silence from the CDC, the agency's director is speaking up about gun violence

[billh58]

For the first time in decades, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- the nation's top public health agency -- is speaking out forcefully about gun violence in America, calling it a "serious public health threat."

"Something has to be done about this," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in an exclusive interview with CNN. "Now is the time -- it's pedal to the metal time."

This summer alone has seen a spree of gun injuries and deaths, and the weekends have been especially violent, with an average of 200 people killed and 472 injured by guns each weekend in the United States, not including suicides, according to an analysis done by the Gun Violence Archive for CNN. That's nearly 3.4 people shot every hour every weekend.

"The scope of the problem is just bigger than we're even hearing about, and when your heart wrenches every day you turn on the news, you're only hearing the tip of the iceberg," Walensky said. "We haven't spent the time, energy and frankly the resources to understand this problem because it's been so divided."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-decades-of-near-silence-from-the-cdc-the-agencys-director-is-speaking-up-about-gun-violence/ar-AANOeih?li=BBnb7Kz

This is great news, and long overdue. Thank you Dr. Walensky.

Gun violence is epidemic in this country, and the NRA, and their bought-and-paid-for politicians across the country, know it full well. They put profits and "contributions" above the well-being of the American people, and convince the gullible to buy more and more guns through lies and deceit about confiscation by Democrats. More guns equals more violence, which equals more death and injury.

The Second Amendment does NOT "trump your rights" (per Joe The Plumber) to live, and to be free of the constant fear that some idiot with a gun will "stand his ground" over a non-existent threat and kill you. It is time for these vigilante laws to be rescinded.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Silenced DUE TO THE REPUBES. They made it IMPOSSIBLE for the CDC to study gun violence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

[billh58]

2. From the same Wikipedia article:

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.[18] 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.