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Reminder: 'Under Fire,' 'Shoot Down' And Other Such Clichés Are Banned

As we've said before, we should not use gun- or violence-related clichés in our reports — no matter the subject and especially not when another mass shooting is in the news.

Earlier this year, we posted a short list of such phrases:

- "Under fire."
- "Shoot down."
- "Stuck to his guns."
- "Smoking gun."
- "Gunning for."
- "Hired gun."
- "With guns blazing."
- "War zone."
- "Kill the [bill, proposal, plan ... etc.]."

This week, an organization called Grandparents Against Gun Violence sent us their longer collection, with suggested alternatives. It's posted here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.