Did the new spending bill really end the hold on gun violence research? Maybe not.

[SunSeeker]

...
“I think a bigger signal that gun violence research is going to be endorsed would be if Congress puts money behind it, creates a stream of revenue for gun violence research. That would be the real signal — that it’s safe to get back in the water.”
...
That's because former President Barack Obama used similar language in a 2013 presidential memorandum issued in the wake of the 2012 Newtown shooting that directed the CDC to research the causes and prevention of gun violence. It didn’t do the trick.
...
Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research, believes the language concerning the Dickey Amendment may actually make gun violence research “more restrictive” by limiting its parameters.

“The new language limits spending to only research on the causes of gun violence,” Webster told NBC. “...Funding could not examine solutions, especially any solution that threatens the status quo on gun commerce and ownership.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/did-new-spending-bill-really-end-hold-gun-violence-research-n859141

[bitterross]

1. Hmm, I think I can stretch the meaning of "cause" enough to include status quo

Seriously, I think I can easily make the case that the current environment, in which there is gun worship, is part of the cause. Proximate, if not root.