The organizers of last October's pro-gun First Freedom Rally in the Valley and Concord 2000 events have come out strongly against the Joyce Foundation-funded gun violence study underway at St. Luke's Hospital. Noting the fact that the billion dollar Joyce Foundation has already spent $13 million on pseudo-scientific studies in an attempt to subvert the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, group spokesman Jason Schaffer asked, "How can anyone who receives funding from an organization with a such an obvious political agenda, be an impartial and unbiased researcher of fact? St. Luke's is going to 'find' the results that the Joyce Foundation wants 'found' so it can get more money. How can any rational person believe the results of such an effort?"

Mr. Schaffer pointed out that the $600,000 grant from the Joyce Foundation could have better been spent by the hospital on real health issues such as childhood immunizations or pre-natal checkups for low income expectant mothers. "Think how many poor and disadvantaged children that money could have helped," he said. "This is an incredible waste of health resources, just to push a political agenda."

The project leader, Dr. James Reilly, believes that restricting access to firearms will substantially impact suicide and homicide rates. Schaffer points out that an overwhelming number of peer-reviewed academic and clinical studies have proven that the method chosen to commit these acts is totally irrelevant. "As long as there are sharpened sticks and brute strength, people will commit murder. As long as there are tall buildings and sleeping pills, people will take their own lives. If Dr. Reilly believes otherwise, he is living in a fantasy world," said Schaffer. "Murder rates have risen and suicide rates have not fallen where guns are banned. Just look at England and Australia."

"Dr. Reilly has a history of anti-gun prejudice, including being an advocate of one-gun-a-month legislation (Morning Call, March 2, 1999). He seems to believe that firearms deaths are a preventable disease," Mr. Schaffer points out. "But if the gun is a pathogen causing death and there are 270 million guns in the country", said Schaffer, "why don't we have 270 million gun deaths every day?" Schaffer continues, "Dr. Reilly's public statements and his acceptance of money from the Joyce Foundation make his motives suspect. If he believes that guns cause death without any human involvement, then he must also believe that pencils cause misspelled words."

"The U.S. suicide rate has fluctuated between 10 and 13 per 100,000 for the last half century and shows no correlation to gun laws or gun availability," Mr. Schaffer said. "Yet advocates of gun laws, like Dr. Reilly, trumpet their desire to uncover the root cause through the use of scientific methodology while ignoring this fifty year trend. Then they solemnly conclude that it must be the availability of guns. This isn't science — it's propaganda. In the world of Joyce Foundation grant money, this is called 'unbiased' research."

As for homicides, group organizer Paul Topete of the band PokerFace says, "Ask any cop in the Lehigh Valley who the perpetrators and victims of murder are and you'll learn that in the vast majority of cases both are involved in the drug trade. If Dr. Reilly and St. Luke's Hospital want to reduce homicides, they should work to remove the profit motive from illicit drug sales since that, like alcohol prohibition before it, has fueled organized crime and the violence associated with it."