nongun

English

Etymology

non- +‎ gun

Adjective

nongun (comparative more nongun, superlative most nongun)

1. Without a gun.
   • 2004, Jens Ludwig, ‎ Philip J. Cook, Evaluating Gun Policy, page 59:

     The results for the three oldest age groups are consistent with the hypothesis that gun availability may lead to fewer nongun suicides, but overall suicide rates are not more strongly related to gun ownership for this group than for the younger age categories.

   • 2006, James P. Lynch, ‎ Lynn A. Addington, Understanding Crime Statistics, page 260:

     It is a safe bet that police recording of assaults involving firearms has changed less over the past 25 years than the recording and classification of the more heterogeneous category of nongun assaults, including those involving other weapons such as knives or clubs.

   • 2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers, page 304:

     The leg on the gun side takes a shorter step than the leg on the nongun side, and the corresponding arm follows a similarly constrained trajectory.

Noun

nongun (plural nonguns)

1. Something that is not a gun, especially something that resembles a gun or is used instead of a gun.
   • 1985, Ruth Mueller, The Eye of the Child, page 51:

     Stick to your nonguns. Even if they lock you up.

   • 1990, United States Statutes at Large - Volume 102, Part 4, page 3190:

     For purposes of this section, the term "look-alike firearm" means any imitation of any original firearm which was manufactured, designed, and produced since 1898, including and limited to toy guns, water guns, replica nonguns, and air-soft guns firing nonmetallic projectiles.

   • 2000, Alfred Blumstein, ‎ Joel Wallman, The Crime Drop in America, page 31:

     The weapons are classified into three groups: handguns, other guns, and nonguns (which includes no weapon).

   • 2000, Perspectives on Crime and Justice, page 8:

     But between 1985 and 1993, there was an increase of more than 130 percent in homicides committed with handguns, with no marked change in the number of homicides committed with long guns and about a 50-percent decrease with nonguns.