The Business of Guns

lucrative: Producing a strong profit or reward. magazine: The ammunition container for a firearm that holds and delivers bullets to the gun chamber. mandatory: Required by law. market share: A business term referring to the percentage of total available customers who choose to purchase a given brand. marksmanship: The ability of a shooter to hit a target, most often from a far distance. merchandise: Goods for sale. militia: Organized, armed citizens who are not active members of the military, volunteering to participate in armed conflict for the defense of their city and/ or state. minors: Persons younger than the age of legal adulthood (18 in the United States). misogyny: Hatred or extreme distrust of women. mitigation: Prevention or minimization. municipal: Referring to the government structure of a city or a town. mystique: Exotic allure, attraction, mystery, aura. noncompliance: Willing refusal to follow a rule, law, or policy. notoriety: Public perception, usually negative. nuance: Subtlety, slight differences, or intended uncertainty. obfuscate: To confuse, muddy, or obscure. outlier: Individual part of an overall data set that does not conform to overall trends and performances. oversight: Authority for making decisions and carrying out policy. panacea: A totally and entirely effective solution. paramilitary: A fighting force with military-grade training and/or equipment. partisan: Having or favoring a specific political ideology. per capita: A Latin term literally meaning “for each head,” applied as a per-person metric to analyze different populations. persistent: Ongoing and continuous; difficult to stop or prevent. polarizing: Referring to a political topic on which most of the population has a strong opinion either for or against it. preemption: The authority of one power, over all others, to invalidate or prohibit laws; the Second Amendment is a federal preemption against the government banning firearms. preemptive: Referring to aggressive action meant to stop another action before it happens. precarious: Dangerous, harmful, unsteady.

The Business of Guns

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