Gun control is an effort to fight violent crime by strengthening laws on the ownership of firearms. The use of a gun in a crime is more likely to result in a person's death than is the use of most other kinds of weapons, including knives. Many people own guns for the protection of their home, for use in hunting or target shooting, or for other legitimate reasons. Gun control laws aim to reduce the criminal use of guns as much as possible and, at the same time, to interfere as little as possible with other gun use.

The federal government and all U.S. states have some gun control laws. These laws use two main approaches to reducing gun violence. The first involves keeping high-risk people from obtaining firearms. The second prohibits high-risk guns from being acquired by anyone but the

High-risk firearms are those considered more likely to be misused than ordinary firearms. Since 1934, for example, U.S. federal law has placed special restrictions on machine guns-which can fire many bullets with a single pull of the trigger-and sawed-off (short-barreled) shotguns. A law passed by Congress in 1994 bans the sale of certain semiautomatic guns, often called assault weapons. The AK-47 is a common example of a gun that has been outlawed. These guns require a separate pull of the trigger to fire each bullet but can quickly fire many bullets. Some communities forbid the ownership of handguns by ordinary citizens. Backers of such laws argue that handguns are involved in many accidental shootings and have little value in household self-defense. Until the 1990's, most states prohibited ordinary citizens from carrying concealed guns. Since 1987, however, many states have adopted laws that allow their citizens to obtain licenses to carry concealed guns. In the late 1990's, several local governments in the United States began to sue gun manufacturers for the effects of violence committed with guns. In 2000, the gun manufacturing company Smith & Wesson agreed to adopt a number of restrictions on the distribution and design of its guns, including safety locks on handguns to make them more child-resistant. In return, many of the lawsuits against that company were dropped. Other gun manufacturers and many opponents of gun control condemned the agreement.

One of the major arguments against the theory that gun control would save life is that although two-thirds or all homicides are committed with firearms, firearm controls could have no effect on homicide rates because human nature being what it is, homicide would continue unabated. People opposed to gun control argue that taking guns from law-abiding citizens does not prevent the possession of guns by criminals. People who oppose licensing, waiting periods, and background checks argue that legitimate gun owners must pay the cost of the procedures, bear their inconvenience, or both. Opponents of laws forbidding concealed weapons argue that criminals are less likely to commit crimes if they think their victims may be armed. Some U.S. citizens argue that g

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