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PEOPLE Magazine Supports Obama-Asks Americans To Call Their Congressman & Support Gun Controls
People Magazine Takes Stand on Gun ViolenceBY JESS CAGLE 10/07/2015 AT 06:00 AM EDT
In this week's issue of PEOPLE, Editorial Director Jess Cagle used his Editor's Letter to address the frequency of mass shootings in America. We have also published the office telephone numbers for all 535 voting members of the House and Senate. We urge readers to contact their elected representatives to make their voices heard.
Cagle's letter:
On Oct. 1, after a madman killed nine victims at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., we covered every horrible development of the story on people.com, and we began planning our coverage of the massacre for this issue of the magazine. It's so heartbreaking and infuriating to think how many times over the years we've done exactly this—reaching out to victims' families and survivors of mass shootings, gathering details about the fallen.
As President Obama said, our responses to these incidents – from politicians, from the media, from nearly everyone – have become "routine." We all ask ourselves the same questions: How could it happen again? What are we doing about gun violence in America? There are no easy answers, of course. Some argue for stricter gun laws, others say we should focus on mental health issues, some point to a culture that celebrates violence.
But this much we know: As a country we clearly aren't doing enough, and our elected officials' conversations about solutions usually end in political spin.
In this issue we pay tribute to the nine Oregon victims, as well as 22 other men, women and children who've lost their lives in mass shootings – incidents where a murderer has opened fire on a crowd – in the U.S. during the past 12 months.
That definition of "mass shooting" is pretty narrow; the number of victims skyrockets if you count other types of multiple shootings like domestic violence and murder-suicides. So far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 10,006 gun-related deaths in the United States, and the CDC says firearm injuries and deaths are "a significant public health problem."
I think about mass shootings when I'm on a train, and when the lights go down in a movie theater, and when I see children in a classroom.
We need to know that our representatives in Washington, D.C., are looking for solutions and not giving up, and they need to know if we agree or disagree with their strategies. We urge you to contact your representative to make your voice heard – you can find your representative's contact information by clicking here http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep and entering your zip code. Let's make sure they know from now on that routine responses just won't cut it.
Jess Cagle, Editorial Director
As President Obama said, our responses to these incidents – from politicians, from the media, from nearly everyone – have become "routine." We all ask ourselves the same questions: How could it happen again? What are we doing about gun violence in America? There are no easy answers, of course. Some argue for stricter gun laws, others say we should focus on mental health issues, some point to a culture that celebrates violence.
But this much we know: As a country we clearly aren't doing enough, and our elected officials' conversations about solutions usually end in political spin.
In this issue we pay tribute to the nine Oregon victims, as well as 22 other men, women and children who've lost their lives in mass shootings – incidents where a murderer has opened fire on a crowd – in the U.S. during the past 12 months.
That definition of "mass shooting" is pretty narrow; the number of victims skyrockets if you count other types of multiple shootings like domestic violence and murder-suicides. So far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 10,006 gun-related deaths in the United States, and the CDC says firearm injuries and deaths are "a significant public health problem."
I think about mass shootings when I'm on a train, and when the lights go down in a movie theater, and when I see children in a classroom.
We need to know that our representatives in Washington, D.C., are looking for solutions and not giving up, and they need to know if we agree or disagree with their strategies. We urge you to contact your representative to make your voice heard – you can find your representative's contact information by clicking here http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep and entering your zip code. Let's make sure they know from now on that routine responses just won't cut it.
Jess Cagle, Editorial Director
http://www.people.com/article/preventing-gun-violence-people-call-to-action-jess-cagle