BECERRA MAKES WRONG CALL ON GUN RESEARCH

Democratic California Attorney General Xavier Becerra — President Joe Biden’s nominee to be Health and Human Services secretary — has been repeatedly criticized by Republicans in recent days for his inexperience with health care issues, among other concerns. On Wednesday, every Republican on the Senate Finance Committee voted against his nomination. Meanwhile, he continues to give critics new fuel as the Golden State’s top lawyer.

This week, the Sacramento Bee reported that the attorney general’s staff was withholding gun violence data from the UC Davis California Firearm Violence Research Center. That is a state-funded institution that the Legislature created in 2016 to identify new ways to reduce gun violence and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies, such as gun violence restraining orders. The Attorney General’s Office has also called on the research center to delete information it had previously provided related to the state’s attempts to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who were banned from such ownership because of their criminal histories, court orders or mental health issues. Researchers are beside themselves, as they should be. The data is crucial to keeping Californians safe with policies rooted in science and public health, not guesswork.

Becerra aides cite privacy fears, but researchers’ access is already both limited and secure, and Becerra’s approach is contrary to the practices of his predecessor, now-Vice President Kamala Harris, and ignores the clear intent of the Legislature.

should question Becerra’s judgment.