MADISON - Recently, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), stated that she wants the agency to establish gun violence as an urgent public health crisis. This would be a major step forward for gun safety as the CDC has largely been silent on gun violence research since 1997 due to a lack of Congressional funding.

Senator Melissa Agard (D-Madison) released the following statement on this new commitment to address gun violence:

“Gun violence is an urgent public health crisis. I am encouraged to see the CDC acknowledging the stark reality of too many lives lost each day. The fact is, no other country on the planet witnesses the number of gun deaths that we do here in the United States, and it’s not even close.

“As Dr. Walensky said, this isn’t about restricting the rights of responsible gun owners. It’s about doing research to understand the full scope of the gun violence crisis in our country and identifying ways to address it.”