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Concept
Gun control
Summary
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have relatively restrictive firearms laws, with only a few being categorized as permissive. Jurisdictions that regulate private access to firearms typically first restrict ownership of certain categories of firearms, and may then make further restrictions of the categories of persons who may be granted a license to own or carry. In some countries, such as the United States, gun control may be implemented at any of the federal, state, or local levels.
Small arms trade and Small arms and light weapons
Gun control refers to domestic and international attempts to regulate, and harmonize the regulation of, the private and industrial manufacture, trade, possession, use, and transport of a class of weapons typically identified as small arms. This class of arms commonly includes revolvers, self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, so-called assault rifles, and some categories of machine gun.
The term gun control itself is considered politicized. Many gun control advocates prefer the use of terms like "gun-violence prevention", "gun safety", or "common-sense regulation" to describe their objectives.
In 2007, a global supply of 875 million small arms were estimated to be in the hands of civilians, law enforcement agencies, and national armed forces. Of these firearms, 650 million, or 75%, were estimated to be held by civilians. U.S. civilians account for 270 million of this total. A further 200 million are controlled by national military forces. Law enforcement agencies may have some 26 million small arms. Non-state armed groups have about 1.4 million firearms. Finally, gang members hold between 2 and 10 million small arms. Together, the small arms arsenals of non-state armed groups and gangs have been estimated to account for, at most, 1.4% of the global total.
With few exceptions, most countries in the world actually allow some form of civilian firearm ownership.
Official source
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