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CHICAGO -- After an emotional discussion, the American Medical Association House of Delegates passed a resolution Tuesday at its annual meeting urging Congress to end the ban on gun violence research at the CDC.
"During this AMA meeting, we witnessed the worst mass shooting in U.S. history," said , a neurologist in New York City and author of the resolution. "America is looking to its physicians for our voice on this public health crisis. We will not stand idly by and watch our fellow Americans be slaughtered by the thousands."
, an anesthesia and perioperative care resident from San Francisco and a delegate from the Resident Fellow section, noted that the AMA's upcoming interim meeting will be held in Orlando. Since the AMA includes many LGBTQ members, he said the House might have been mourning the loss of some of its own had the tragedy occurred during that meeting. "It's the most urgent moment in U.S. history for this country to declare this a public health crisis. Please adopt this important and timely resolution as policy."
The resolution reads, "Resolved, that our AMA immediately make a public statement that gun violence represents a public health crisis which requires a comprehensive public health response and solution, and be it further resolved that our AMA actively lobby Congress to lift the gun violence research ban." It was sponsored by Cohen and the New York delegation, and co-sponsored by a number of groups, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the AMA's Minority Affairs Section, and the AMA's Young Physicians Section.
, of Ontario. N.Y., a delegate from New York state, tried to add an additional piece to the resolution decrying violence against the LGBTQ community perpetrated by jihadist terrorists, but the House of Delegates voted that his resolution was not germane.
Only one delegate, , an otolaryngologist in Queensbury, N.Y. and a member of the New York delegation, spoke on his own behalf against the resolution. "Yesterday, you insulted my Christianity regarding religious hospital affiliations and also the community and culture within which I live," Hughes said, referring to another resolution urging the AMA to study the effect of religiously affiliated hospitals' policies on access to healthcare. "Guns should not be in the first [sentence] and the second [sentence] is reaffirmation" of AMA policy.
The resolution was passed on a voice vote. After it was passed, many members of the House stood up and applauded, and a moment of silence was held in honor of the victims of Sunday's mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando; it was the second such moment of the meeting.