Loaded Words from the Gun Violence Debate

Learn the words that are having the most impact on the gun violence debate. From "In Gun Debate, Even Language Can Be Loaded" (NYTimes Jan. 13, 2013).
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. point-blank
    close enough to go straight to the target
    The Brady Campaign found itself in the awkward position of using a firm called Point Blank when it needed help last month.
  2. shoot
    fire a shot
    When Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised ideas for responding to the massacre, he said he was “ shooting for Tuesday.”
  3. silver bullet
    a simple guaranteed solution for a difficult problem
    “We know that there is no silver bullet,” Mr. Biden said last week about stemming gun violence.
  4. target
    a reference point to shoot at
    Candidates “ target” their opponents, lawmakers “stick to their guns,” advocacy groups “take aim” at hostile legislation and reporters write about a White House “under fire.”
  5. take aim
    point or cause to go towards
    Candidates “target” their opponents, lawmakers “stick to their guns,” advocacy groups “ take aim” at hostile legislation and reporters write about a White House “under fire.”
  6. flintlock
    an obsolete gunlock that has flint embedded in the hammer
    “All of that ties into the frontier tradition, rugged individualism, a single American with a flintlock or a gun of some kind holding off the Indians or fighting off the British,” said Robert Spitzer, a scholar of gun control at the State University of New York at Cortland.
  7. gun control
    efforts to regulate or control sales of guns
    Gun control advocates these days generally do not use the term gun control; instead, they talk about curbing gun violence, recognizing that “control” stirs opposition among legal gun owners who fear their rights being trampled.
  8. misfire
    fail to fire or detonate
    “My opening line was, his speech was a misfire; he missed the target,” Mr. Spitzer recalled. “I liked using the gun metaphor because I think it’s doubly appropriate for him.”
  9. aim
    point or cause to go towards
    For an editorial last week criticizing Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, for his past solidarity with the N.R.A., The New York Times used the headline, “Senator Reid Takes Fresh Aim.”
  10. point man
    someone who is the forefront of an important enterprise
    Candy Crowley, the CNN anchor, introduced an interview by highlighting “our conversation with N.R.A. point man Asa Hutchinson.”
  11. ballistic
    of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum
    As of Tuesday, the phrase “Alex Jones goes ballistic” drew 357,000 hits on Google.
  12. curb
    the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess
    They talk about curbing gun violence, recognizing that “control” stirs opposition among legal gun owners who fear their rights being trampled.
  13. cross hair
    either of two fine mutually perpendicular lines that cross in the focus plane of an optical instrument and are use for sighting or calibration
    Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential nominee, for using cross hairs on her Web site to identify Democrats like Ms. Giffords who she said should be defeated for re-election.
  14. firearm
    a portable gun
    But during a discussion on fiscal talks, he [Obama] too used the terminology of firearms. “What I will not do is have that negotiation with a gun at the head of the American people,” he said.
Created on January 16, 2013 (updated August 4, 2014)

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