This is a list of common terms you may or may not know. This glossary explains both commonly used and technical terms related to gun violence.
Public Health Approach to Gun Violence: The public health approach is a four-step process that is rooted in the scientific method. It can be applied to gun violence and other health problems that affect populations.
Ref: CDC
Types of Gun Injury and Death
Suicide is when people direct violence at themselves with the intent of ending their lives, and they die as a result of their action. A suicide attempt is when people harm themselves with the intent to die, but their actions do not result in death. Use of guns make it more likely that a person will die by suicide.
Homicide is the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another; also called murder.
Mass Shooting is when more than 5 people are shot in a single incident.
Unintentional: A shooting in which the shooter accidentally shoots a person or themselves. Many of these injuries occur in the home when children find a loaded gun.
Unintentional shoot vs. accidental shooting: Many activists prefer the term “unintentional shooting” because “accident” absolves the gun owner from responsibility. Unintentional shootings are often preventable tragedies.
Domestic Violence: Physical or emotional injury that occurs between or among people who share a home. This includes spouses, siblings, or other family members.
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): The term “intimate partner violence” describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy.
Gun Terms
Handgun: a firearm (such as a revolver or pistol) designed to be held and fired with one hand.
Rifle: a gun, especially one fired from shoulder level, having a long spirally grooved barrel intended to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance.
Semi-automatic rifle: A semi-automatic rifle is a type of self-loading rifle (also called auto-loading rifle) whose action will automatically cycle (ejects and rechambers) a new round after each shot, but needs the shooter to manually release the trigger and reset/recock the sear and hammer/striker before pulling again to fire another shot; thus, only one round is discharged with each pull of the trigger.
Bump stock: a device that can be attached to a semiautomatic firearm in place of a conventional gunstock, enabling it to fire bullets more rapidly. HOW FAST CAN IT FIRE?
Assault weapon: Assault weapon is a term used in the United States to define some types of firearms. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions but usually includes semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip and sometimes other features such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor or barrel shroud. (Wikipedia)
Shotgun: A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug. (Wikipedia)
Caliber: The word caliber does not denote a unit of measure. It is simply a descriptor of what is being measured, ie. the diameter of the barrel or tube of a weapon. For example, measured using the metric system, a 7.62mm rifle has a barrel that is 7.62mm in diameter, measured at the lands (not the base of the grooves).
Trauma-informed care
Trauma: Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. (SAMHSA)
Trauma Informed Care: A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization. (SAMHSA)
Ref: The Trauma Informed Care Project accessed 9/13/2019
GVP: Common acronym for “Gun Violence Prevention”
Gun Violence Prevention vs. Gun Control: Advocates and organizations tend to prefer the term “gun violence prevention,” instead of “gun control.” Many organizations working to reduce gun violence are not necessarily anti-gun organizations, and the term “gun control” implies that they oppose guns, rather than opposing violence. Also, “gun control” brings attention on the means of violence, but “gun violence prevention” can draw attention to the myriad of ways that organizations work to reduce violence. Focusing on access to guns may be one method of reducing violence, but it is not the only method of reducing violence.
Common term: Commited Suicide
Preferred terms: Died by gun suicide/killed themself/completed gun suicide vs. committed suicide: “committed” is often used as a word to describe crimes. Suicide already tends to be silenced and stigmatized, and using language of “committed” can be shaming to those whose loved one died by suicide.
Anniversaries of shootings: many organizations and survivors do not prefer use of the “anniversary” to describe a death because anniversary connotes a celebration. Instead, many prefer referring the “one-year mark” or “one year since” a shooting.
Legal Terms
Permitless carry or constitutional carry: Both terms refer to legislation that allows people to carry guns in public places without permits or safety training. Activists who support this legislation tend to call it “constitutional carry.” Activists who oppose this legislation tend to call it “permitless carry” because they challenge the implication that there is a constitutional right to carry a gun in a public place without a permit, criminal record check, or safety training.
Gun Show Loophole Legislation, Universal Background Check Legislation: Each term refers to legislation that would require criminal background checks on all gun sales. Currently most states do not require criminal background checks when purchasing a gun from an unlicensed seller. The term “gun show loophole” references one site of sales where some sellers may be unlicensed, but unlicensed sales can occur at a variety of sites, including on the internet.
Charleston Loophole Legislation: This refers to legislation that would prohibit firearms to be transferred before a background check is completed if the background check takes more than 3 days to complete. While most background checks can be completed immediately at the time of purchase, some criminal background checks take additional time, especially if there is a complicated history or clerical errors. The reference to Charleston is a reference to the 2015 Mother Emmanuel Church shooting in Charleston, SC. In that case, the shooter was able to obtain a firearm despite his criminal record because the criminal background check took more than 3 days to complete.
Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO) or Red Flag Law: This is a category of legislation that allows loved ones and/or police to petition a judge for temporary removal of a firearm when there is concern that the gun owner may harm themselves