Two House Republicans are demanding the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain why it scrubbed a study on defensive gun use from the agency’s website, and if it was done at the behest of gun control activists.
In a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, U.S. Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and August Pfluger, R-Texas, wrote, “according to recent reporting, this decision comes as the result of a private meeting held between your agency and a left-leaning advocacy group, much of which has been inconsistently redacted from the public.”
“There is a difference between providing information to educate consumers, and censoring facts that third-party groups may disagree with politically,” the lawmakers wrote.
The study reportedly showed the annual instances of defensive gun use in the U.S. were between 60,000 and 2.5 million, with the latter figure significantly higher than criminal gun use.
After a private meeting between the CDC and Mark Bryant, executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, Bryant sent an email to the CDC, obtained by The Reload, about the defensive gun use figures, stating, “that 2.5 million number needs to be killed, buried, dug up, killed again and buried again. It is highly misleading, is used out of context and I honestly believe it has zero value –— even as an outlier point in honest DGU discussions.”
The lawmakers contend that removing studies without explanation to curry favor with political allies of the Biden administration will further deteriorate public trust in the agency.
“Opinions of the nation’s institutions continue to be low due to overt politicization — the CDC censoring public health facts at the behest of gun control advocates will only add to the mistrust,” the lawmakers wrote. “The removal of a study – commissioned by the CDC — indicates that the CDC is avoiding the responsibility bestowed to them by Congress.
“If agencies created with informing the American public are so easily swayed by political-interest groups, they will lose all credibility with the American people. The politicization of our institutions must end.”
The lawmakers requested the CDC explain why it removed the study; what its plan is to provide data on defensive gun use to consumers on its website; if it consulted other groups before removing the study for its website; and explain its process of removing studies from their public information pages and provide a list of all studies removed from its website over the last six months.
“We respectfully request you overturn this decision immediately and make available all data regarding [defensive gun use],” the lawmakers wrote.
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