Dems Lose Fight to End Gun Research Ban

The trillion-dollar spending bill revealed on Wednesday that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has lost the fight to remove a budget rider that has suspended almost all government research into gun violence for 17 years, The Hill reports.

The amendment appeared on page 936 of the 2,009-page bill, yet, Pelosi told gun control groups that the gun research ban was a "priority" in the budget talks. And, according to the Hill, it's the only gun-related provision the House minority leader has stood behind in the wake of the tragic shooting events in Colorado Springs, Colo., and San Bernardino, Calif.

"We must insist that we cannot have a bill leave the station that still has that ban in it," Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday at a press briefing to commemorate the lives that were lost in the Newtown, Conn., shootings three years ago.

Otherwise known as the Dickey amendment for former Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., the chances of the GOP accepting Pelosi's demand to eliminate the provision were slim to none.

However, according to the Hill, even the namesake of the provision has since said "he wished he could change the rider's language to allow research."

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