US Doctors Urge to Lift Ban on Gun Violence Study Hours Before CA Shooting

A US-based group of doctors and medical students presented Congress a petition signed by 2,000 physicians requesting the removal of a 1996 ban on gun violence research funding by the US government a few hours prior to Wednesday's San Bernardino mass shooting.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, at least 14 people were killed and at least 17 others were injured in a gun massacre at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California (about 60 miles east of Los Angeles). The center is a non-profit healthcare facility offering free services to people with disabilities.

"It is disappointing that we have made little progress over the past 20 years in finding solutions to gun violence. I urge Congress to end the ban and support the search for solutions to gun violence," Nina Agrawal, a member of the Doctors for America advocacy group, wrote in the movement’s Twitter account on Wednesday.

Congress banned the provision of federal funds for gun violence research in 1996 due to direct lobbying pressure from the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun lobbyists, stating that "a gun is not a disease."