On February 14, 17 children and adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, lost their lives at the hands of an individual with an assault weapon. Thousands of children across the country went to school that morning, but some never returned home that afternoon. This senseless loss of life has become all too common in our country, ending lives, shattering families, and disrupting the fabric of another community forever branded by this act of violence.

Our organizations include 450,000 physicians and medical student members. Gun violence is a public health epidemic that is growing in frequency and lethality, and it is taking a toll on our patients. We urge our national leaders to recognize in this moment what the medical community has long understood: we must treat this epidemic no differently than we would any other pervasive threat to public health. We must identify the causes and take evidence-based approaches to prevent future suffering.

Today, our organizations call on the President and the United States Congress to help prevent gun violence in the following ways:

1. Label this violence caused by the use of guns a national public health epidemic.
2. Fund appropriate research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the FY 2018 omnibus spending package.
3. Establish constitutionally appropriate restrictions on the manufacturing and sale, for civilian use, of large-capacity magazines and firearms with features designed to increase their rapid and extended killing capacity.

A music concert, shopping mall, church, or school should be places that children and adults can continue to attend without threat or fear of a mass shooting. While these mass shootings command our attention, far too many Americans remain at risk daily for suicide, homicide, and unintentional injury because of the current policy regarding access to guns in the United States.
The families of the victims in Parkland and all those whose lives have been impacted by daily acts of gun violence deserve more than our thoughts and prayers. They need action from the highest levels of our government to stop this epidemic of gun violence now.