(UnitedVoice.com) – Gun rights advocates often say the only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. They point out that defensive gun use has saved countless lives over the years, a situation supported by dozens of articles in the news about homeowners, business owners, and others stopping criminals with their legal firearms.
After decades of the CDC remaining silent on gun violence in the US, the agency commissioned a study in 2020. When the health agency created a “fast facts” page for its website, observers expected it would be comprehensive. However, a new report alleges the agency removed critical data on defensive gun use to appease gun control activists.
Shocking Allegations
The Reload, an investigative website focusing on the Second Amendment, published a shocking report on December 15. It appears that emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request showed the CDC discussing its “fast facts” page with gun control activists.
Mark Bryant, who runs the Gun Violence Archive, sent an email to the CDC complaining about its decision to publish statistics from a study the agency reportedly commissioned from criminologist Gary Kleck. The study estimated that people used guns in self-defense between 60,000 and 2.5 million times annually. One of the emails from Bryant stated, “[T]hat 2.5 Million number needs to be killed, buried, dug up, killed again,” repeatedly. He added it was “highly misleading,” and he believed it had “zero value.”
Bryant claimed Kleck’s study was “debunked repeatedly” but is still used by those who support the Second Amendment and has allegedly prevented “gun safety regulations” from passing.
Upon completion of the “fast facts” page, it was missing the data in question. Instead, the CDC included a generic message about defensive gun use, stating many variables contribute and “additional research is necessary.”
Colluding With Anti-Gun Activists?
In a statement to The Reload, Kleck slammed the CDC for “aligning itself with the gun-control advocacy groups.” He went on to accuse the agency of allowing anti-gun groups to use it as a tool and pointed out that’s not how a government agency should operate.
The White House and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) helped connect the gun control activists with the CDC. When asked to comment on the report, Emily Hampsten, the senator’s communications director, downplayed the problem, saying all the lawmaker did was to connect “stakeholder organizations” as a “basic function of [his] work.”
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