Each year, approximately 30,000 Americans are killed with firearms. Suicides claim 15,000 to 16,000 lives, homicides account for 12,000 more, and gun accidents add another 2,000. Gun-related injuries, whether intentional or accidental, are inflicted upon 40,000 Americans every year. Meanwhile, in any given year, there are up to one million crimes committed involving guns. The gun control debate is about how much regulation and what kinds of regulations there ought to be. Specifically, it concerns proposals and arguments whose assumptions and evidence would seriously restrict or prohibit mentally competent adult noncriminals from owning firearms that are presently legally obtainable. On one side stands the Americans who not only own firearms, but love them. On the other side stands a large group of politically active and socially concerned Americans who perceive criminal and negligent use of firearms to be a problem of major dimensions. Some of the most important contemporary studies and the most persuasive arguments developed by experts on both sides of the issue are presented. Bibliography