1. United States
2. Okla.
3. Letter

Subject: Please Support a Stronger National Firearms Data Infrastructure Dear Senator/Representative, I am a constituent from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I am writing to ask you to support legislation and appropriations that build a complete, timely, and consistent national data system on firearms injuries and deaths. For decades, the Dickey Amendment and chronic underfunding created major gaps in our ability to understand what actually reduces gun violence. Death records are reasonably good, but contextual details (circumstances, types of firearms, non-fatal shootings, storage practices, and state-to-state consistency) remain patchy because reporting is often voluntary or incomplete. This hurts everyone who wants evidence-based policy, regardless of their views on gun rights. The expert recommendations in the NORC “Blueprint for a U.S. Firearms Data Infrastructure” (2020) and follow-up reports offer practical, non-controversial steps: fully implementing and mandating NIBRS, expanding the National Violent Death Reporting System with better timeliness and consistency, creating a national nonfatal gunshot wound database, and improving public access to de-identified data. Recent cuts to gun-violence-prevention research and grants have made the problem worse. I respectfully urge you to support: Stable, increased funding for the CDC, NIH, and National Institute of Justice to conduct and disseminate firearm-injury research. Legislation that requires all states to report consistent, detailed data to national systems (building on the NORC recommendations). Full support for bills such as the National Gun Violence Research Act or the Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety Database Act, or similar measures that focus on data quality rather than specific policy outcomes. Better data benefits law enforcement, public health officials, hunters, gun owners, and policymakers alike. It is one of the few areas where real progress can be made without touching the Second Amendment. Thank you for your time and service. I would appreciate knowing your position on improving our national firearms data systems.