Gunfire strikes home in Kenosha’s Lincoln Neighborhood

In a country where three in 10 adults own a gun and nearly half of households have at least one gun in the home, 100 Americans die every day from gunshot wounds. Nearly half of all U.S. adults grew up in a household with guns, more than half have friends who own guns, and nearly three-quarters have fired a gun. The prevalence of gun violence and gun ownership has made gun control among the most hotly (and frequently) contested issues in the United States.

Advocates for gun control want tighter restrictions on the sale, possession, and use of firearms, while advocates of gun rights see ownership as an essential right protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The debate heats up each time a mass shooting—defined as a shooting involving the death or injury of four or more people—occurs, which now happens, on average, every day in the United States. Seven of the 10 deadliest U.S. shootings have happened in the past decade, including the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.

Reform advocates point to evidence showing fewer people die from gun violence in states with strong gun laws. Case in point: Alaska has one of the highest gun death rates and some of the weakest gun laws, while Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate and some of the strongest gun laws. Advocates for reform have steadily gathered momentum: Some young survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, for example, proposed a blueprint for comprehensive gun control. Everytown for Gun Safety, founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has spent millions of dollars to promote gun control through ballot initiatives and state elections. An August 2022 study conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 71% of Americans say gun laws should be stricter.

Meanwhile, more hardline groups such as Gun Owners of America fight hard in Washington D.C. for lawmakers’ support. Gun advocates argue that more guns, not less, will help to prevent or stop shootings—and that stricter gun-control laws will only keep guns out of the hands of honest people. But this has not stopped the current administration from responding to public appeal as regards gun ownership.

In June 2022, just over a month after the horrific shooting at Uvalde, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which incentivizes states to pass “red flag” laws, expands background checks for those under age 21, and closes what is known as the “boyfriend loophole.” Previous legislation had prevented those convicted of domestic abuse from owning a firearm; the new bill now includes dating partners under that restriction, in addition to spouses and former spouses. In some respects, this bill is a rebuttal to the Supreme Court’s ruling, which had been handed down just days before the signing of the bill, that effectively nullified New York state’s concealed carry law.

Seeing as gun control will continue to be a major legislative issue for years to come, here are 25 terms critical to understanding and participating in the conversation.

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