The prevalence of guns in the United States and the frequency with which they are used to commit crimes have made gun control a muchdiscussed and contentious issue. There are an estimated 200 to 250 million firearms in America, and of these, about a third are handguns. According to health researcher Etienne Krug, the homicide rate in the United States is six times higher than that of other developed nations. And though it varies from year to year, according to the FBI, in general guns are used in about 70 percent of homicides. In 2000, for example, 52 percent of homicides were committed with handguns, and 19 percent were committed with other guns.

Crime vs. violence

An important distinction in the gun control debate is between gun violence and gun crime. Often these categories overlap. For example, there were twelve thousand gun homicides in 1998. Homicide is both violent and criminal, hence the term "violent...