PENNSYLVANIA, January 22 - homicides among children and teenagers in this Commonwealth

ranked as one of the highest in the nation.

(3) The annual cost of gun violence across the United

States is estimated to be more than $100,000,000,000 and

could be as high as $229,000,000,000 per year.

(4) Too little is known about gun violence, its causes

and the best practices for its prevention. There is a

substantial need for publicly funded academic research in gun

violence. The need for more research and more sophisticated

research is critical in fighting the plague of gun violence

in our schools and communities.

(5) Federal funding for gun violence research through

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was

effectively eliminated by Congress in 1996 through the

passage of a provision known as the Dickey Amendment.

(6) It is the intent of this act to provide State

funding for gun violence research in place of the Federal

funding that has been curtailed by the Dickey Amendment.

Section 3. Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Center." The Center for Gun Violence Research established

under section 4.

"University." Any of the following:

(1) An independent institution of higher education

located in and incorporated or chartered by the Commonwealth,

entitled to confer degrees as specified in 24 Pa.C.S. § 6505

(relating to power to confer degrees) and entitled to apply

to itself the designation "college," "university" or

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