March For Our Lives protester, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2018
Recently, in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shootings, we called upon advocates of universal gun background checks, a renewed Assault Weapons Ban and other such steps to apply a powerful label to their efforts. We pointed out that the traditional label “gun control” is outdated and inaccurate, because, for example, steps like universal background checks don’t literally “control” guns, and in any case, “gun control” sounds like a Big Government Nanny State that many people don’t like. We like to use the phrase “gun violence” to point out the problem America faces, and to include it in descriptions of the measures needed to solve it, such as “gun violence legislation.” However, there are plenty of other good terms to use. The following is an evergreen list of effective-sounding replacement phrases for “gun control” that are being used in the current debate, including our sources of such phrases where known. We will be adding new terms to the list as they come up, and we encourage commenters to provide suggestions:
