ConclusionThe public health aspects of firearm violence
presented in the committee’s proposed research
agenda—in conjunction with research conducted
from criminal justice and other perspectives—aim
to provide a robust knowledge base to help bolster
our nation’s approach to minimizing the consequences
associated with firearm violence.
The evidence generated by implementing
a public health research agenda will enable the
development of sound policies that support both
the rights and the responsibilities central to gun
ownership in the United States. In the absence of
this research, policy makers will be left to debate
controversial policies without scientifically sound
evidence about their potential effects.
Emphasis mine, but I think it goes w/o saying that this is a push to move the debate into a regulatory regime that will take things in a very different direction.