After mass shootings, NRA says we aren’t supposed to talk gun control. The pandemic is not related to guns. The Dickey and Tiahr amendments prohibit the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from being involved in studies of gun violence as a health problem.

NRA wants us to be ignorant, same as Big Tobacco hid cancer risks from main stream cigs pre-1964. For those who believe we should promote the “Progress of Science” U.S. Const. Art. I, sec. 8, here are a few questions (perhaps suggestive of syllogisms).

If facts support the notion that mass gun ownership overall is beneficial, why has the NRA lobbied (successfully) to block CDC peer-reviewed studies of gun violence as a health issue?

If epidemiology can deter mine causation from statistics of correlation, and of roughly 32,000 gun deaths per year approximately sixty percent (60%) are suicides, then would a peer reviewed epidemiological study be appropriate to determine at least a partial solution?

If the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, and there are so many guns in the USA, why haven’t the bad guys been stopped? And why the hell not have the CDC sponsor studies to test if this is true?

If wide availability of assault weapons easily converted to “full” automatic and clips that hold (far) in excess of five (5) rounds do not lead to mass shootings, why are there no peer review studies for such conclusions?

For too long gun nuts - people who make a point of wearing 6-shooters on their hips as if to dare anyone to speak up against someone with LETHAL FORCE on their hip - have forced the NRA’s policies on us.

My opponents in the GOP primary are more concerned with giving solace to gun advocates who imagine their rights have been eroded than in protecting us or our Constitution. We lead the World in gun and COVID deaths. We should use science to address both.

I’m Mark Small, GOP candidate for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District (INCD5) on June 2. We need to remove restrictions on research into guns. We also need a vibrant 1st Amendment. I approve of this blog. Hell, I wrote it.