Science: “For weeks, questions have swirled around the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) decision to shelve a firearms research program that was launched at the urging of former President Barack Obama’s administration after 20 children and six educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, late in 2012. Among other things, it has been unclear what led to the decision, which came to light in September, and when it was made. Now, Science has obtained internal agency emails under the Freedom of Information Act showing that in the months leading up to its expiration, program staff in several NIH institutes were keen to renew the 3-year firearms research initiative, which has spent $18 million funding 22 projects studying such questions as how to implement gun safety counseling by pediatricians to prevent youth suicide. But, according to the emails, senior NIH officials had other ideas…”