People magazine is in the news right now for its “call to action” asking readers to contact Congress (they’ve published the contact info for all 535 members) and demand they do something about gun violence. But take a look at how they frame it:
VIDEO: http://t.co/gAnOIXkeA3 NBC hails People magazine’s "call to action" for public to "rise up" for gun control pic.twitter.com/cwXME1t5Zb
— Kyle Drennen (@kjdrennen) October 8, 2015
See what they did there? People used the number of deaths from gun violence collected by the Gun Violence Archive which is at 10,157 year to date (People says it’s 10,006). Now compare People’s number of deaths from gun violence to how Hillary Clinton spins the issue.
She uses the much larger number of 33,000 (33,183 estimated deaths in 2014), which are a total number of deaths in the U.S. that involve a firearm, including suicides:
Add your name if you think it’s time to take action on gun violence: http://t.co/d5G3nBLwbw pic.twitter.com/L2y4gtp9pO
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 7, 2015
This is an important distinction because homicide rates from firearms are dropping while suicides that use a firearm are increasing. From Vocativ:
Gun Deaths In America: Suicides Outnumber Homicides 2-to-1
Gun violence rates haven’t changed in a decade, but a new study by UC Davis reveals that as firearm homicide rates have dropped, suicide rates have increased by a like amount
We’re not trying to minimize the impact of gun suicides by any means, but honesty in this debate — especially since the only reason we’re talking about it is because of the mass shooting in Oregon — is important and needs to be reported that way.
And we will point out that People magazine is still anti-gun and missing the bigger picture:
.@people in case you are not familiar, please note that guns are used defensively 2.2 to 2.5 million times a year https://t.co/zQAZFgLwPs
— Gayle Trotter (@gayletrotter) October 8, 2015
People Magazine forgets important fact that over 90% of America's violent crime occurs without involving a firearm. https://t.co/zQAZFgLwPs
— Gayle Trotter (@gayletrotter) October 8, 2015
Related:
Video message from People Editorial Director Jess Cagle.
Let's do something about gun violence. Here’s how to contact all 535 members of Congress http://t.co/49wbCUl0w3https://t.co/7gSWgbOE2l
— People (@people) October 7, 2015
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