riends who own guns, and nearly three-quarters have fired a gun. The prevalence of gun violence and gun ownership has made gun controlamong 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 shootingdefined as a shooting involving the death or injury of four or more peopleoccurs, which now happens, on average, every day in the United States. Six of the 10 deadliest U.S. shootings have happened in the past decade.

Reform advocates point to evidence showingfewer people die from gun violence in states with strong gun laws. Case in point: Alaska has the highest gun death rate 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, Fla., school shooting, for example,have 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 and has challenged the clout of the National Rifle Association (NRA) at the federal level. From 2017 to 2019there was a rise in the amount of Americans who support stricter gun laws.

Meanwhile, well-organized and well-funded groupssuch as the NRA, along with more hardline groups such as Gun Owners of America, fight hard in WashingtonD.C.for lawmakers support. Gun advocates argue that more guns, not less, will help to prevent or stop shootingsand that stricter gun-control laws will only keep guns out of the hands of honest people.

As gun violence spread to protests and the presidential election looms, the debate over guns in the United States only amplifies. Here are 25 terms critical to understanding and participating in the conversation about the issue.

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25 terms you should know to understand the gun control debate - Daily Local News