Gun violence is a critical public health crisis in the U.S., a point made painfully clear yesterday in Georgia yesterday morning, and over Labor Day weekend in Chicago. And despite the Biden Administration’s passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which became law in 2022, and Vice President Harris’ decades-long push for gun safety and state leaders make use of federal support to end gun violence, not all have sought its support.
The BSCA provided for, among other protections, the hiring of 14,000 in-school trained mental health professionals. It was not only being the most significant gun protection measure in 30 years, but the most significant federal investment in student emotional wellness in the nation’s history.
But it was still burdened by a 1996 congressional budget amendment that restricted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using its funds to support gun control initiatives, according to the Daily Montanan. It was tucked in by …