California lawmakers are creating the first state-funded research center on gun violence.

Passed as part of the recent state budget, $5 million is dedicated to jump start the forthcoming center that will be based in the UC system.

It's in stark contrast to the federal government: for decades, Congress has ignored President Obama's call to budget $10 million so the Centers for Disease Control could research the issue. Without funding, research in the area is effectively banned.

"Not doing research on a health problem like firearm violence is like not doing heart disease or cancer," says Dr. Garen Wintemute at UC-Davis, who helped spearhead the campaign to create the center. "We can know the problem is there, but to do the best job at limiting the damage it does, we need to know the details."

California is in a unique position to take the lead in research because officials already collect and disseminate data on gun violence and gun commerce, work that isn't being done on a level elsewhere in the nation.

Dr. Wintemute also says that while fatal gun violence rates have not changed in 10 years across the nation, they have fallen within California by more than 20 percent.

"The organizing idea for the center might be, 'Why is that, and what are we doing right that other states are not doing?'" he says, and the findings might benefit the whole country.

Among the other things that a future center could study are risk factors for gun violence – is alcohol abuse a correlating factor? If younger men are more likely to commit violence, then what types of young men?

The future location and leadership of the center are still to be determined, but Dr. Wintemute expects that the UC system will make a decision soon.

"I have no inside information, but I wouldn't be surprised if a decision was made by this fall," he says.