WASHINGTON – The National Rifle Association is not standing pat in the wake of new legislation to be introduced by Democrats pushing for funding to allow the Center for Disease Control to research gun violence. In response, the group blasted the proposed legislation, calling it unethical, and backed a new Republican bill ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ alternative which would make it illegal for any government entity to mention gun violence in any way.

“The abuse of taxpayer funds for anti-gun political propaganda under the guise of ‘research’ is unethical,” said NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen. “That is why Congress should stand firm against President Obama’s scheme to undermine a fundamental constitutional right, by passing the gun research Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation. Our Second Amendment rights will only be safe when nobody is doing any gun violence-related research.”

The original bill, introduced by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in the House and Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass) in the Senate, would give the CDC $10 million per year “for the purpose of conducting or supporting research on firearms safety or gun violence prevention.” Opponents say it is really a veiled attempt to take away America’s guns.

“The President’s request to fund propaganda for his gun-grabbing initiatives though the CDC will not be included in the FY2015 appropriations bill,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that traditionally sets CDC funding. “Instead, we will be including the sensible ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which will allow gun owners to remain free from such propaganda-related research such as how many Americans are shot each year, do background checks actually reduce gun violence, or any mention at all about so-called Smart Guns.”

“What works to reduce gun violence is to make sure that criminals are prosecuted and those who have been found to be a danger to themselves or others don’t have access to firearms,” said Andrew Arulanandam, Director of Public Affairs for the NRA. “Not to carry out more studies. Passing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell just makes sense. We don’t need to research the best ways to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, because that would lead to keeping guns out of people’s hands.

“It’s better if we just don’t talk about it,” he added.