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Great Lakes

The Great Lakes (Grands Lacs), also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the east-central interior of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and they are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. Hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are a single body of water joined at the Straits of Mackinac. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes.

The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and the second-largest by total volume; they contain 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94250 sqmi, and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5439 cumi, slightly less than the volume of Lake Baikal (23615 km3, 22–23% of the world's surface fresh water). Because of their sea-like characteristics, such as rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant horizons, the five Great Lakes have long been called inland seas. Depending on how it is measured, by surface area, either Lake Superior or Lake Michigan–Huron is the second-largest lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake. Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country.

The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the Last Glacial Period around 14,000 years ago, as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land, which then filled with meltwater. The lakes have been a major source for transportation, migration, trade, and fishing, serving as a habitat to many aquatic species in a region with much biodiversity. The surrounding region is called the Great Lakes region, which includes the Great Lakes Megalopolis.

Geography
Though the five lakes lie in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. As a chain of lakes and rivers, they connect the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers and contain approximately 35,000 islands. There are also several thousand smaller lakes, often called "inland lakes", within the basin.

The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the surface area of the entire basin (the lakes and the land they drain) is about the size of the UK and France combined. Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that is entirely within the United States; the others form a water boundary between the United States and Canada. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Both the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes. The province of Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, and the state of Michigan does not border Lake Ontario. New York and Wisconsin's jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and each of the remaining states into one of the lakes.

Primary connecting waterways

 * The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through human-made alterations and canals.
 * The St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron, via the North Channel.
 * The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron (the two are hydrologically one lake).
 * The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair.
 * The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.
 * The Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
 * The Welland Canal, bypassing the Niagara River, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
 * The Saint Lawrence River and the Saint Lawrence Seaway connect Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lake Michigan–Huron
Lakes Huron and Michigan are sometimes considered a single lake, called Lake Michigan–Huron, because they are one hydrological body of water connected by the Straits of Mackinac. The straits are 5 mi wide and 120 ft deep; the water levels rise and fall together, and the flow between Michigan and Huron frequently reverses direction.

Large bays and related significant bodies of water

 * Lake Nipigon, connected to Lake Superior by the Nipigon River, is surrounded by sill-like formations of mafic and ultramafic igneous rock hundreds of meters high. The lake lies in the Nipigon Embayment, a failed arm of the triple junction (centered beneath Lake Superior) in the Midcontinent Rift System event, estimated at 1.1 billion years ago.
 * Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan along the south coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the east coast of Wisconsin. It is separated from the rest of the lake by the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the Garden Peninsula in Michigan, and the chain of islands between them, all of which were formed by the Niagara Escarpment.
 * Lake Winnebago, connected to Green Bay by the Fox River, serves as part of the Fox–Wisconsin Waterway and is part of a larger system of lakes in Wisconsin known as the Winnebago Pool.
 * Grand Traverse Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan on Michigan's west coast and is one of the largest natural harbors in the Great Lakes. The bay is divided into east and west arms by the Old Mission Peninsula. The bay has one major island, Power Island. Its name is derived from Jacques Marquette's crossing of the bay from Norwood to Northport which he called La Grande Traversee.
 * Georgian Bay is an arm of Lake Huron, extending northeast from the lake entirely within Ontario. The bay, along with its narrow westerly extensions of the North Channel and Mississagi Strait, is separated from the rest of the lake by the Bruce Peninsula, Manitoulin Island, and Cockburn Island, all of which were formed by the Niagara Escarpment.
 * Lake Nipissing, connected to Georgian Bay by the French River, contains two volcanic pipes, which are the Manitou Islands and Callander Bay. These pipes were formed by a violent, supersonic eruption of deep origin. The lake lies in the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a Mesozoic rift valley that formed 175 million years ago.
 * Lake Simcoe, connected to Georgian Bay by the Severn River, serves as part of the Trent–Severn Waterway, a canal route traversing Southern Ontario between Lakes Ontario and Huron.
 * Lake St. Clair, connected with Lake Huron to its north by the St. Clair River and with Lake Erie to its south by the Detroit River. Although it is 17 times smaller in area than Lake Ontario and only rarely included in the listings of the Great Lakes, proposals for its official recognition as a Great Lake are occasionally made, which would affect its inclusion in scientific research projects designated as related to "The Great Lakes".
 * Saginaw Bay, an extension of Lake Huron into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, fed by the Saginaw and other rivers, has the largest contiguous freshwater wetland in the United States.

Islands
Dispersed throughout the Great Lakes are approximately 35,000 islands. The largest among them is Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, the largest island in any inland body of water in the world. The second-largest island is Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Both of these islands are large enough to contain multiple lakes themselves—for instance, Manitoulin Island's Lake Manitou is the world's largest lake on a freshwater island. Some of these lakes even have their own islands, like Treasure Island in Lake Mindemoya in Manitoulin Island.

Peninsulas
The Great Lakes also have several peninsulas between them, including the Door Peninsula, the Peninsulas of Michigan, and the Ontario Peninsula. Some of these peninsulas even contain smaller peninsulas, such as the Bruce, Keweenaw, Leelanau, Niagara, and Thumb peninsulas. Population centers on the peninsulas include Grand Rapids, Flint, and Detroit in Michigan along with London, Hamilton, Brantford, and Toronto in Ontario.

Shipping connection to the ocean
Although the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway make the Great Lakes accessible to ocean-going vessels, shifts in shipping to wider ocean-going container ships—which do not fit through the locks on these routes—have limited container shipping on the lakes. Most Great Lakes trade is of bulk material, and bulk freighters of Seawaymax-size or less can move throughout the entire lakes and out to the Atlantic. Larger ships are confined to working within the lakes. Only barges can access the Illinois Waterway system providing access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Despite their vast size, large sections of the Great Lakes freeze over in winter, interrupting most shipping from January to March. Some icebreakers ply the lakes, keeping the shipping lanes open through other periods of ice on the lakes.

The Great Lakes are connected by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to the Gulf of Mexico via the Illinois River (from the Chicago River) and the Mississippi River. An alternate track is via the Illinois River (from Chicago), to the Mississippi, up the Ohio, and then through the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway (a combination of a series of rivers and lakes and canals), to Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial tug-and-barge traffic on these waterways is heavy.

Pleasure boats can enter or exit the Great Lakes by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York. The Erie Canal connects to the Great Lakes at the east end of Lake Erie (at Buffalo, New York) and at the south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, New York).

Water levels
The lakes were originally fed by both precipitation and meltwater from glaciers which are no longer present. In modern times, only about 1% of volume per year is "new" water, originating from rivers, precipitation, and groundwater springs. In the post-glacial period, evaporation, and drainage have generally been balanced, making the levels of the lakes relatively constant.

Intensive human population growth began in the region in the 20th century and continues today. At least two human water use activities have been identified as having the potential to affect the lakes' levels: diversion (the transfer of water to other watersheds) and consumption (substantially done today by the use of lake water to power and cool electric generation plants, resulting in evaporation). Outflows through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is more than balanced by artificial inflows via the Ogoki River and Long Lake/Kenogami River diversions. Fluctuation of the water levels in the lakes has been observed since records began in 1918. The water level of Lake Michigan–Huron had remained fairly constant over the 20th century. Recent lake levels include record low levels in 2013 in Lakes Superior, Erie, and Michigan-Huron, followed by record high levels in 2020 in the same lakes. The water level in Lake Ontario has remained relatively constant in the same time period, hovering around the historical average level.

The lake levels are affected primarily by changes in regional meteorology and climatology. The outflows from Lakes Superior and Ontario are regulated, while the outflows of Michigan-Huron and Erie are not regulated at all. Ontario is the most tightly regulated, with its outflow controlled by the Moses-Saunders Power Dam, which explains its consistent historical levels.

Etymology

 * Lake Erie
 * From the Erie tribe, a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan 'long tail'.

 * Lake Huron
 * Named for the inhabitants of the area, the Wyandot (or "Hurons"), by the first French explorers . The Wyandot originally referred to the lake by the name karegnondi, a word which has been variously translated as "Freshwater Sea", "Lake of the Hurons", or simply "lake".

 * Lake Michigan
 * From the Ojibwe word mishi-gami "great water" or "large lake".

 * Lake Ontario
 * From the Wyandot word ontarí'io "lake of shining waters".

 * Lake Superior
 * English translation of the French term lac supérieur "upper lake", referring to its position north of Lake Huron. The indigenous Ojibwe call it gichi-gami (from Ojibwe gichi "big, large, great"; gami "water, lake, sea"). Popularized in French-influenced transliteration as Gitchigumi as in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 story song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", or Gitchee Gumee as in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha).

Statistics
The Great Lakes contain 21% of the world's surface fresh water: 5472 cumi, or 6.0×1015 U.S. gallons, that is 6 quadrillion U.S. gallons, (2.3×1016 liters). The lakes contain about 84% of the surface freshwater of North America; if the water were evenly distributed over the entire continent's land area, it would reach a depth of 5 feet (1.5 meters). This is enough water to cover the 48 contiguous U.S. states to a uniform depth of 9.5 ft. Although the lakes contain a large percentage of the world's fresh water, the Great Lakes supply only a small portion of U.S. drinking water on a national basis.

The total surface area of the lakes is approximately 94250 sqmi—nearly the same size as the United Kingdom, and larger than the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined. The Great Lakes coast measures approximately 10500 mi, but the length of a coastline is impossible to measure exactly. Canada borders approximately 5200 mi of coastline, while the remaining 5300 mi are bordered by the United States. Michigan has the longest shoreline of the United States, bordering roughly 3288 mi of lakes, followed by Wisconsin (820 mi), New York (473 mi), and Ohio (312 mi). Traversing the shoreline of all the lakes would cover a distance roughly equivalent to travelling half-way around the world at the equator.

A notable modern phenomenon is the formation of ice volcanoes over the lakes during wintertime. Storm-generated waves carve the lakes' ice sheet and create conical mounds through the eruption of water and slush. The process is only well-documented in the Great Lakes, and has been credited with sparing the southern shorelines from worse rocky erosion.

Geology
It has been estimated that the foundational geology that created the conditions shaping the present day upper Great Lakes was laid from 1.1 to 1.2 billion years ago, when two previously fused tectonic plates split apart and created the Midcontinent Rift, which crossed the Great Lakes Tectonic Zone. A valley was formed providing a basin that eventually became modern day Lake Superior. When a second fault line, the Saint Lawrence rift, formed approximately 570 million years ago, the basis for Lakes Ontario and Erie was created, along with what would become the Saint Lawrence River.

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the Last Glacial Period (the Wisconsin glaciation ended 10,000 to 12,000 years ago), when the Laurentide Ice Sheet receded. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater (Lake Algonquin, Lake Chicago, Glacial Lake Iroquois, and Champlain Sea) that filled up the basins that the glaciers had carved, thus creating the Great Lakes as they are today. Because of the uneven nature of glacier erosion, some higher hills became Great Lakes islands. The Niagara Escarpment follows the contour of the Great Lakes between New York and Wisconsin. Land below the glaciers "rebounded" as it was uncovered. Since the glaciers covered some areas longer than others, this glacial rebound occurred at different rates.

Climate
The Great Lakes have a humid continental climate, Köppen climate classification Dfa (in southern areas) and Dfb (in northern parts) with varying influences from air masses from other regions including dry, cold Arctic systems, mild Pacific air masses from the west, and warm, wet tropical systems from the south and the Gulf of Mexico. The lakes have a moderating effect on the climate; they can also increase precipitation totals and produce lake effect snowfall.

Lake effect

The Great Lakes can have an effect on regional weather called lake-effect snow, which is sometimes very localized. Even late in winter, the lakes often have no icepack in the middle. The prevailing winds from the west pick up the air and moisture from the lake surface, which is slightly warmer in relation to the cold surface winds above. As the slightly warmer, moist air passes over the colder land surface, the moisture often produces concentrated, heavy snowfall that sets up in bands or "streamers". This is similar to the effect of warmer air dropping snow as it passes over mountain ranges. During freezing weather with high winds, the "snowbelts" receive regular snow fall from this localized weather pattern, especially along the eastern shores of the lakes. Snowbelts are found in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario. Related to the lake effect is the regular occurrence of fog, particularly along the shorelines of the lakes. This is most noticeable along Lake Superior's shores.

The lakes tend to moderate seasonal temperatures to some degree but not with as large an influence as do large oceans; they absorb heat and cool the air in summer, then slowly radiate that heat in autumn. They protect against frost during transitional weather and keep the summertime temperatures cooler than further inland. This effect can be very localized and overridden by offshore wind patterns. This temperature buffering produces areas known as "fruit belts", where fruit can be produced that is typically grown much farther south. For instance, western Michigan has apple orchards, and cherry orchards are cultivated adjacent to the lake shore as far north as the Grand Traverse Bay. Near Collingwood, Ontario, commercial fruit orchards, including a few wineries, exist near the shoreline of southern Nottawasaga Bay. The eastern shore of Lake Michigan and the southern shore of Lake Erie have many successful wineries because of the lakes' moderating effects, as do the large commercial fruit and wine growing areas of the Niagara Peninsula located between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. A similar phenomenon allows wineries to flourish in the Finger Lakes region of New York, as well as in Prince Edward County, Ontario, on Lake Ontario's northeast shore.

The Great Lakes have been observed to help intensify storms, such as Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and the 2011 Goderich, Ontario tornado, which moved onshore as a tornadic waterspout. In 1996, a rare tropical or subtropical storm was observed forming in Lake Huron, dubbed the 1996 Lake Huron cyclone. Rather large severe thunderstorms covering wide areas are well known in the Great Lakes during mid-summer; these Mesoscale convective complexes or MCCs can cause damage to wide swaths of forest and shatter glass in city buildings. These storms mainly occur during the night, and the systems sometimes have small embedded tornadoes, but more often straight-line winds accompanied by intense lightning.

Ecology
Historically, the Great Lakes, in addition to their lake ecology, were surrounded by various forest ecoregions (except in a relatively small area of southeast Lake Michigan where savanna or prairie occasionally intruded). Logging, urbanization, and agriculture uses have changed that relationship. In the early 21st century, Lake Superior's shores are 91% forested, Lake Huron 68%, Lake Ontario 49%, Lake Michigan 41%, and Lake Erie, where logging and urbanization has been most extensive, 21%. Some of these forests are second or third growth (i.e. they have been logged before, changing their composition). At least 13 wildlife species are documented as becoming extinct since the arrival of Europeans, and many more are threatened or endangered. Meanwhile, exotic and invasive species have also been introduced.

Fauna
While the organisms living on the bottom of shallow waters are similar to those found in smaller lakes, the deep waters contain organisms found only in deep, cold lakes of the northern latitudes. These include the delicate opossum shrimp (order mysida), the deepwater scud (a crustacean of the order amphipoda), two types of copepods, and the deepwater sculpin (a spiny, large-headed fish).

The Great Lakes are an important source of fishing. Early European settlers were astounded by both the variety and quantity of fish; there were 150 different species in the Great Lakes. Throughout history, fish populations were the early indicator of the condition of the Lakes and have remained one of the key indicators even in the current era of sophisticated analyses and measuring instruments. According to the bi-national (U.S. and Canadian) resource book, The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book: "The largest Great Lakes fish harvests were recorded in 1889 and 1899 at some 67000 t [147 million pounds]."

By 1801, the New York Legislature found it necessary to pass regulations curtailing obstructions to the natural migrations of Atlantic salmon from Lake Erie into their spawning channels. In the early 19th century, the government of Upper Canada found it necessary to introduce similar legislation prohibiting the use of weirs and nets at the mouths of Lake Ontario's tributaries. Other protective legislation was passed, but enforcement remained difficult.

On both sides of the Canada–United States border, the proliferation of dams and impoundments have multiplied, necessitating more regulatory efforts. Concerns by the mid-19th century included obstructions in the rivers which prevented salmon and lake sturgeon from reaching their spawning grounds. The Wisconsin Fisheries Commission noted a reduction of roughly 25% in general fish harvests by 1875. The states have removed dams from rivers where necessary.

Overfishing has been cited as a possible reason for a decrease in population of various whitefish, important because of their culinary desirability and, hence, economic consequence. Moreover, between 1879 and 1899, reported whitefish harvests declined from some 24.3 million pounds (11 million kg) to just over 9 million pounds (4 million kg). By 1900, commercial fishermen on Lake Michigan were hauling in an average of 41 million pounds of fish annually. By 1938, Wisconsin's commercial fishing operations were motorized and mechanized, generating jobs for more than 2,000 workers, and hauling 14 million pounds per year. The population of giant freshwater mussels was eliminated as the mussels were harvested for use as buttons by early Great Lakes entrepreneurs.

The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book (1972) notes: "Only pockets remain of the once large commercial fishery." Water quality improvements realized during the 1970s and 1980s, combined with successful salmonid stocking programs, have enabled the growth of a large recreational fishery. The last commercial fisherman left Milwaukee in 2011 because of overfishing and anthropogenic changes to the biosphere.

Invasive species
Since the 19th century, an estimated 160 new species have found their way into the Great Lakes ecosystem; many have become invasive; the overseas ship ballast and ship hull parasitism are causing severe economic and ecological impacts. According to the Inland Seas Education Association, on average a new species enters the Great Lakes every eight months. Introductions into the Great Lakes include the zebra mussel, which was first discovered in 1988, and quagga mussel in 1989. Since 2000, the invasive quagga mussel has smothered the bottom of Lake Michigan almost from shore to shore, and their numbers are estimated at 900 trillion. The mollusks are efficient filter feeders, competing with native mussels and reducing available food and spawning grounds for fish. In addition, the mussels may be a nuisance to industries by clogging pipes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2007 that the economic impact of the zebra mussel could be about $5 billion over the next decade.

The alewife first entered the system west of Lake Ontario via 19th-century canals. By the 1960s, the small silver fish had become a familiar nuisance to beach goers across Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Periodic mass die-offs result in vast numbers of the fish washing up on shore; estimates by various governments have placed the percentage of Lake Michigan's biomass which was made up of alewives in the early 1960s as high as 90%. In the late 1960s, the various state and federal governments began stocking several species of salmonids, including the native lake trout as well as non-native chinook and coho salmon; by the 1980s, alewife populations had dropped drastically. The ruffe, a small percid fish from Eurasia, became the most abundant fish species in Lake Superior's Saint Louis River within five years of its detection in 1986. Its range, which has expanded to Lake Huron, poses a significant threat to the lower lake fishery. Five years after first being observed in the St. Clair River, the round goby can now be found in all of the Great Lakes. The goby is considered undesirable for several reasons: it preys upon bottom-feeding fish, overruns optimal habitat, spawns multiple times a season, and can survive poor water quality conditions.

The influx of parasitic lamprey populations after the development of the Erie Canal and the much later Welland Canal led to the two federal governments of the United States and Canada working on joint proposals to control it. By the mid-1950s, the lake trout populations of Lakes Michigan and Huron were reduced, with the lamprey deemed largely to blame. This led to the launch of the bi-national Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Several species of exotic water fleas have accidentally been introduced into the Great Lakes, such as the spiny waterflea, Bythotrephes longimanus, and the fishhook waterflea, Cercopagis pengoi, potentially having an effect on the zooplankton population. Several species of crayfish have also been introduced that may contend with native crayfish populations. More recently an electric fence has been set up across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in order to keep several species of invasive Asian carp out of the lakes. These fast-growing planktivorous fish have heavily colonized the Mississippi and Illinois river systems. Invasive species, particularly zebra and quagga mussels, may be at least partially responsible for the collapse of the deepwater demersal fish community in Lake Huron, as well as drastic unprecedented changes in the zooplankton community of the lake.

Microbiology
Scientists understand that the micro-aquatic life of the lakes is abundant but know very little about some of the most plentiful microbes and their environmental effects in the Great Lakes. Although a drop of lake water may contain 1 million bacteria cells and 10 million viruses, only since 2012 has there been a long-term study of the lakes' micro-organisms. Between 2012 and 2019 more than 160 new species have been discovered.

Flora
Native habitats and ecoregions in the Great Lakes region include:

 * Alvar
 * Boreal rich fen (such as in Door County)
 * Eastern forest-boreal transition
 * Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests
 * Southern Great Lakes forests
 * Central forest-grasslands transition
 * Upper Midwest forest-savanna transition
 * Western Great Lakes forests
 * Central Canadian Shield forests
 * Laurentian Mixed Forest Province
 * Beech-maple forest
 * Habitats of the Indiana Dunes

Plant lists include:
 * List of Michigan flowers
 * List of Minnesota wild flowers
 * List of Minnesota trees

Logging

Logging of the extensive forests in the Great Lakes region removed riparian and adjacent tree cover over rivers and streams, which provide shade, moderating water temperatures in fish spawning grounds. Removal of trees also destabilized the soil, with greater volumes washed into stream beds causing siltation of gravel beds, and more frequent flooding.

Running cut logs down the tributary rivers into the Great Lakes also dislocated sediments. In 1884, the New York Fish Commission determined that the dumping of sawmill waste (chips and sawdust) had impacted fish populations.

Pollution
The first U.S. Clean Water Act, passed by a Congressional override after being vetoed by U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1972, was a key piece of legislation, along with the bi-national Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement signed by Canada and the U.S. A variety of steps taken to process industrial and municipal pollution discharges into the system greatly improved water quality by the 1980s, and Lake Erie in particular is significantly cleaner. Discharge of toxic substances has been sharply reduced. Federal and state regulations control substances like PCBs. The first of 43 "Great Lakes Areas of Concern" to be formally "de-listed" through successful cleanup was Ontario's Collingwood Harbour in 1994; Ontario's Severn Sound followed in 2003. Presque Isle Bay in Pennsylvania is formally listed as in recovery, as is Ontario's Spanish Harbour. Dozens of other Areas of Concern have received partial cleanups such as the Rouge River (Michigan) and Waukegan Harbor (Illinois).

Phosphate detergents were historically a major source of nutrient to the Great Lakes algae blooms in particular in the warmer and shallower portions of the system such as Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay, Green Bay, and the southernmost portion of Lake Michigan. By the mid-1980s, most jurisdictions bordering the Great Lakes had controlled phosphate detergents. Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria blooms, have been problematic on Lake Erie since 2011. "Not enough is being done to stop fertilizer and phosphorus from getting into the lake and causing blooms," said Michael McKay, executive director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) at the University of Windsor. The largest Lake Erie bloom to date occurred in 2015, exceeding the severity index at 10.5 and in 2011 at a 10. In early August 2019, satellite images depicted a bloom stretching up to 1,300 square kilometres on Lake Erie, with the heaviest concentration near Toledo, Ohio. A large bloom does not necessarily mean the cyanobacteria ... will produce toxins", said Michael McKay, of the University of Windsor. Water quality testing was underway in August 2019.

Mercury
Until 1970, mercury was not listed as a harmful chemical, according to the United States Federal Water Quality Administration. In the 21st century, mercury has become more apparent in water tests. Mercury compounds have been used in paper mills to prevent slime from forming during their production, and chemical companies have used mercury to separate chlorine from brine solutions. Studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency have shown that when the mercury comes in contact with many of the bacteria and compounds in the fresh water, it forms the compound methyl mercury, which has a much greater impact on human health than elemental mercury due to a higher propensity for absorption. This form of mercury is not detrimental to a majority of fish types, but is very detrimental to people and other wildlife animals who consume the fish. Mercury has been known for health related problems such as birth defects in humans and animals, and the near extinction of eagles in the Great Lakes region.

Sewage
The amount of raw sewage dumped into the waters was the primary focus of both the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and federal laws passed in both countries during the 1970s. Implementation of secondary treatment of municipal sewage by major cities greatly reduced the routine discharge of untreated sewage during the 1970s and 1980s. The International Joint Commission in 2009 summarized the change: "Since the early 1970s, the level of treatment to reduce pollution from waste water discharges to the Great Lakes has improved considerably. This is a result of significant expenditures to date on both infrastructure and technology, and robust regulatory systems that have proven to be, on the whole, quite effective." The commission reported that all urban sewage treatment systems on the U.S. side of the lakes had implemented secondary treatment, as had all on the Canadian side except for five small systems.

Though contrary to federal laws in both countries, those treatment system upgrades have not yet eliminated combined sewer overflow events. This describes when older sewerage systems, which combine storm water with sewage into single sewers heading to the treatment plant, are temporarily overwhelmed by heavy rainstorms. Local sewage treatment authorities then must release untreated effluent, a mix of rainwater and sewage, into local water bodies. While enormous public investments such as the Deep Tunnel projects in Chicago and Milwaukee have greatly reduced the frequency and volume of these events, they have not been eliminated. The number of such overflow events in Ontario, for example, is flat according to the International Joint Commission. Reports about this issue on the U.S. side highlight five large municipal systems (those of Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Gary) as being the largest current periodic sources of untreated discharges into the Great Lakes.

The fish of the Great Lakes have anti-depressant drugs meant for humans in their brains, which has caused concerns. The number of American adults who take anti-depressant drugs rose from 7.7% of all American adults in 1999–2002 to 12.7% in 2011–2014. As the anti-depressant drugs pass out of human bodies and through sanitation systems into the Great Lakes, this has resulted in fish in the Great Lakes with twenty times the level of anti-depressants in their brains than what is in the water, leading to the fish being exceedingly happy and hence less risk-averse, to the extent of damaging the fish populations.

Plastic
Researchers have found that more than 22 e6lb of plastic end up in the Great Lakes each year. Plastics in the water break up into very small particles known as microplastics. Microplastics can also come from synthetic clothing washed down our drains. Plastic waste found in the lakes include single-use plastics, plastics used in packaging, takeout containers as well as pre-production pellets produced by plastics industry. High concentrations of microplastics were discovered in 100 percent of the fish that were studied by researchers from the Rochman Lab. About 50 e6lb of fish is harvested each year from Great Lakes which has raised concerns on how this might affect human health. Microscopic pieces of plastic have also been found in drinking water coming from Great Lakes. It is estimated that nearly 40 million people in the region rely on drinking water from the Great Lakes.

A number of self-operating floating devices called Seabin, were put in the Great Lakes to capture plastic trash as part of the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup project. The project captured 74,000 pieces of trash using this technology between 2020 and 2021; however, it does not claim to catch up with 22 e6lb of plastic that ends up in Great Lakes every year. The production, consumption, and throwing away of plastics seems to remain the core of Great Lakes trash problem.

Impacts of climate change on algae
Algae such as diatoms, along with other phytoplankton, are photosynthetic primary producers supporting the food web of the Great Lakes, and have been affected by global warming. The changes in the size or in the function of the primary producers may have a direct or an indirect impact on the food web. Photosynthesis carried out by diatoms constitutes about one fifth of the total photosynthesis. By taking out of the water to photosynthesize, diatoms help to stabilize the pH of the water, as  would react with water to produce carbonic acid.
 * CO2 + H2O <-> HCO3- + H+

Diatoms acquire inorganic carbon through passive diffusion of and HCO3-, and use carbonic anhydrase mediated active transport to speed up this process. Large diatoms require more carbon uptake than smaller diatoms. There is a positive correlation between the surface area and the chlorophyll concentration of diatom cells.

History
Several Native American populations (Paleo-indians) inhabited the region around 10,000 BC, after the end of the Wisconsin glaciation. The peoples of the Great Lakes traded from around 1000 AD, as copper nuggets have been extracted from the region and fashioned into ornaments and weapons in the mounds of Southern Ohio.

The Rush–Bagot Treaty signed in 1818, after the War of 1812 and the later Treaty of Washington eventually led to a complete disarmament of naval vessels in the Great Lakes. Nonetheless, both nations maintained coast guard vessels in the Great Lakes.

The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was built at Cayuga Creek, near the southern end of the Niagara River, and became the first known sailing ship to travel the upper Great Lakes on August 7, 1679. During settlement, the Great Lakes and its rivers were the only practical means of moving people and freight. Barges from middle North America were able to reach the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes when the Welland Canal opened in 1824 and the later Erie Canal opened in 1825. By 1848, with the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal at Chicago, direct access to the Mississippi River was possible from the lakes. With these two canals an all-inland water route was provided between New York City and New Orleans.

The main business of many of the passenger lines in the 19th century was transporting immigrants. Many of the larger cities owe their existence to their position on the lakes as a freight destination as well as for being a magnet for immigrants. After railroads and surface roads developed, the freight and passenger businesses dwindled and, except for ferries and a few foreign cruise ships, have now vanished. The immigration routes still have an effect today. Immigrants often formed their own communities, and some areas have a pronounced ethnicity, such as Dutch, German, Polish, Finnish, and many others. Since many immigrants settled for a time in New England before moving westward, many areas on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes also have a New England feel, especially in home styles and accent.

Since general freight these days is transported by railroads and trucks, domestic ships mostly move bulk cargoes, such as iron ore, coal and limestone for the steel industry. The domestic bulk freight developed because of the nearby mines. It was more economical to transport the ingredients for steel to centralized plants rather than to make steel on the spot. Grain exports are also a major cargo on the lakes. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, iron and other ores such as copper were shipped south on (downbound ships), and supplies, food, and coal were shipped north (upbound). Because of the location of the coal fields in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and the general northeast track of the Appalachian Mountains, railroads naturally developed shipping routes that went due north to ports such as Erie, Pennsylvania and Ashtabula, Ohio.

Because the lake maritime community largely developed independently, it has some distinctive vocabulary. Ships, no matter the size, are called "boats". When the sailing ships gave way to steamships, they were called "steamboats"—the same term used on the Mississippi. The ships also have a distinctive design; ships that primarily trade on the lakes are known as "lakers". Foreign boats are known as "salties". One of the more common sights on the lakes has been since about 1950 the 1000 by, 78850 LT self-unloader. This is a laker with a conveyor belt system that can unload itself by swinging a crane over the side. Today, the Great Lakes fleet is much smaller in numbers than it once was because of the increased use of overland freight, and a few larger ships replacing many small ones.

During World War II, the risk of submarine attacks against coastal training facilities motivated the United States Navy to operate two aircraft carriers on the Great Lakes, USS Sable (IX-81) and USS Wolverine (IX-64). Both served as training ships to qualify naval aviators in carrier landing and takeoff. Lake Champlain briefly became the sixth Great Lake of the United States on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the National Sea Grant Program, contained a line declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. Not coincidentally, this status allows neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. Following a small uproar, the Senate voted to revoke the designation on March 24 (although New York and Vermont universities would continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake).

Alan B. McCullough has written that the fishing industry of the Great Lakes got its start "on the American side of Lake Ontario in Chaumont Bay, near the Maumee River on Lake Erie, and on the Detroit River at about the time of the War of 1812". Although the region was sparsely populated until the 1830s, so there was not much local demand and transporting fish was prohibitively costly, there were economic and infrastructure developments that were promising for the future of the fishing industry going into the 1830s. Particularly, the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal and the Welland Canal a few years later. The fishing industry expanded particularly in the waters associated with the fur trade that connect Lake Erie and Lake Huron. In fact, two major suppliers of fish in the 1830s were the fur trading companies Hudson's Bay Company and the American Fur Company.

The catch from these waters was sent to the growing market for salted fish in Detroit, where merchants involved in the fur trade had already gained some experience handling salted fish. One such merchant was John P. Clark, a shipbuilder and merchant who began selling fish in the area of Manitowoc, Wisconsin where whitefish was abundant. Another operation cropped up in Georgian Bay, Canadian waters plentiful with trout as well as whitefish. In 1831, Alexander MacGregor from Goderich, Ontario found whitefish and herring in abundant supply around the Fishing Islands. A contemporary account by Methodist missionary John Evans describes the fish as resembling a "bright cloud moving rapidly through the water".

From 1844 through 1857, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. In the first half of the 20th century large luxurious passenger steamers sailed the lakes in opulence. The Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company had several vessels at the time and hired workers from all walks of life to help operate these vessels. Several ferries currently operate on the Great Lakes to carry passengers to various islands. As of 2007, four car ferry services cross the Great Lakes, two on Lake Michigan: a steamer from Ludington, Michigan, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and a high speed catamaran from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan, one on Lake Erie: a boat from Kingsville, Ontario, or Leamington, Ontario, to Pelee Island, Ontario, then onto Sandusky, Ohio, and one on Lake Huron: the MS Chi-Cheemaun runs between Tobermory and South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, operated by the Owen Sound Transportation Company. An international ferry across Lake Ontario from Rochester, New York, to Toronto ran during 2004 and 2005 but is no longer in operation.

Shipwrecks
The large size of the Great Lakes increases the risk of water travel; storms and reefs are common threats. The lakes are prone to sudden and severe storms, in particular in the autumn, from late October until early December. Hundreds of ships have met their end on the lakes. The greatest concentration of shipwrecks lies near Thunder Bay (Michigan), beneath Lake Huron, near the point where eastbound and westbound shipping lanes converge. The Lake Superior shipwreck coast from Grand Marais, Michigan, to Whitefish Point became known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes". More vessels have been lost in the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior. The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve serves as an underwater museum to protect the many shipwrecks in this area.

The first ship to sink in Lake Michigan was Le Griffon, also the first ship to sail the Great Lakes. Caught in a 1679 storm while trading furs between Green Bay and Michilimacinac, she was lost with all hands aboard. Its wreck may have been found in 2004, but a wreck subsequently discovered in a different location was also claimed in 2014 to be Le Griffon. The largest and last major freighter wrecked on the lakes was the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank on November 10, 1975, just over 17 mi offshore from Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. The largest loss of life in a shipwreck out on the lakes may have been that of PS Lady Elgin, wrecked in 1860 with the loss of around 400 lives on Lake Michigan. In an incident at a Chicago dock in 1915, the SS Eastland rolled over while loading passengers, killing 841.

In 2007, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced that it had found the wreckage of Cyprus, a 420 ft long, century-old ore carrier. Cyprus sank during a Lake Superior storm on October 11, 1907, during its second voyage while hauling iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin, to Buffalo, New York. The entire crew of 23 drowned, except one, Charles Pitz, who floated on a life raft for almost seven hours. In 2008, deep sea divers in Lake Ontario found the wreck of the 1780 Royal Navy warship HMS Ontario (1780) in what has been described as an "archaeological miracle". There are no plans to raise her as the site is being treated as a war grave. In 2010, L.R. Doty was found in Lake Michigan by an exploration diving team led by dive boat Captain Jitka Hanakova from her boat Molly V. The ship sank in October 1898, probably attempting to rescue a small schooner, Olive Jeanette, during a terrible storm.

Still missing are the two last warships to sink in the Great Lakes, the French minesweepers Inkerman and Cerisoles, which vanished in Lake Superior during a blizzard in 1918. 78 people died, making it the largest loss of life in Lake Superior and the greatest unexplained loss of life in the Great Lakes.

The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary was established in 2021 in the waters of Lake Michigan off Wisconsin. It is the site of a large number of historically significant shipwrecks.

Shipping
Except when the water is frozen during winter, more than 100 lake freighters operate continuously on the Great Lakes, which remain a major water transport corridor for bulk goods. The Great Lakes Waterway connects all the lakes; the shorter Saint Lawrence Seaway connects the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Some lake freighters are too large to use the Seaway and operate only on the Waterway and lakes. In 2002, 162 million net tons of dry bulk cargo were moved on the Lakes. This was, in order of volume: iron ore, grain and potash. The iron ore and much of the stone and coal are used in the steel industry. There is also some shipping of liquid and containerized cargo. Major ports on the Great Lakes include Duluth-Superior, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Twin Harbors, Hamilton and Thunder Bay.

Recreation
Tourism and recreation are major industries on the Great Lakes. A few small cruise ships operate on the Great Lakes including some sailing ships. Sport fishing, commercial fishing, and Native American fishing represent a U.S.$4 billion a year industry with salmon, whitefish, smelt, lake trout, bass and walleye being major catches. Many other water sports are practiced on the lakes such as yachting, sea kayaking, diving, kitesurfing, powerboating, and lake surfing. The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River.

Legislation
In 1872, a treaty gave access to the St. Lawrence River to the United States and access to Lake Michigan to the Dominion of Canada. The International Joint Commission was established in 1909 to help prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters, and to advise Canada and the United States on questions related to water resources. Concerns over diversion of Lake water are of concern to both Americans and Canadians. Some water is diverted through the Chicago River to operate the Illinois Waterway, but the flow is limited by treaty. Possible schemes for bottled water plants and diversion to dry regions of the continent raise concerns. Under the U.S. "Water Resources Development Act of 1986", diversion of water from the Great Lakes Basin requires the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors through the Great Lakes Commission, which rarely occurs. International treaties regulate large diversions.

In 1998, the Canadian company Nova Group won approval from the Province of Ontario to withdraw 158000000 U.S.gal of Lake Superior water annually to ship by tanker to Asian countries. Public outcry forced the company to abandon the plan before it began. Since that time, the eight Great Lakes Governors and the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec have negotiated the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact that would prevent most future diversion proposals and all long-distance ones. The agreements strengthen protection against abusive water withdrawal practices within the Great Lakes basin. On December 13, 2005, the Governors and Premiers signed these two agreements, the first of which is between all ten jurisdictions. It is somewhat more detailed and protective, though its legal strength has not yet been tested in court. The second, the Great Lakes Compact, has been approved by the state legislatures of all eight states that border the Great Lakes as well as the U.S. Congress, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, described as "the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades", was funded at $475 million in the U.S. federal government's Fiscal Year 2011 budget, and $300 million in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. Through the program a coalition of federal agencies is making grants to local and state entities for toxics cleanups, wetlands and coastline restoration projects, and invasive species-related projects. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2019 passed as on January 5, 2021, reauthorizing the program through Fiscal Year 2026.

Dynamically updated data

 * Surface temperatures
 * Water levels
 * Currents
 * Ship locations
 * Water levels since 1918

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Great Lakes


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German

German(s) may refer to:

 * Germany (of or related to)
 * Germania (historical use)
 * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
 * For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
 * Germanic peoples (Roman times)
 * German language
 * any of the Germanic languages
 * German cuisine, traditional foods of Germany

People

 * German (given name)
 * German (surname)
 * Germán, a Spanish name

Places

 * German (parish), Isle of Man
 * German, Albania, or Gërmej
 * German, Bulgaria
 * German, Iran
 * German, North Macedonia
 * German, New York, U.S.
 * Agios Germanos, Greece

Other uses

 * German (mythology), a South Slavic mythological being
 * Germans (band), a Canadian rock band
 * "German" (song), a 2019 song by No Money Enterprise
 * The German, a 2008 short film
 * "The Germans", an episode of Fawlty Towers
 * The German, a nickname for Congolese rebel André Kisase Ngandu

title: German


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Girth (graph theory)

In graph theory, the girth of an undirected graph is the length of a shortest cycle contained in the graph. If the graph does not contain any cycles (that is, it is a forest), its girth is defined to be infinity. For example, a 4-cycle (square) has girth 4. A grid has girth 4 as well, and a triangular mesh has girth 3. A graph with girth four or more is triangle-free.

Cages
A cubic graph (all vertices have degree three) of girth $g$ that is as small as possible is known as a $g$-cage (or as a $(3,g)$-cage). The Petersen graph is the unique 5-cage (it is the smallest cubic graph of girth 5), the Heawood graph is the unique 6-cage, the McGee graph is the unique 7-cage and the Tutte eight cage is the unique 8-cage. There may exist multiple cages for a given girth. For instance there are three nonisomorphic 10-cages, each with 70 vertices: the Balaban 10-cage, the Harries graph and the Harries–Wong graph.

Girth and graph coloring
For any positive integers $g$ and $χ$, there exists a graph with girth at least $g$ and chromatic number at least $χ$; for instance, the Grötzsch graph is triangle-free and has chromatic number 4, and repeating the Mycielskian construction used to form the Grötzsch graph produces triangle-free graphs of arbitrarily large chromatic number. Paul Erdős was the first to prove the general result, using the probabilistic method. More precisely, he showed that a random graph on $n$ vertices, formed by choosing independently whether to include each edge with probability $n^{(1–g)/g}$, has, with probability tending to 1 as $n$ goes to infinity, at most $n/2$ cycles of length $g$ or less, but has no independent set of size $n/2k$. Therefore, removing one vertex from each short cycle leaves a smaller graph with girth greater than $g$, in which each color class of a coloring must be small and which therefore requires at least $k$ colors in any coloring.

Explicit, though large, graphs with high girth and chromatic number can be constructed as certain Cayley graphs of linear groups over finite fields. These remarkable Ramanujan graphs also have large expansion coefficient.

Related concepts
The odd girth and even girth of a graph are the lengths of a shortest odd cycle and shortest even cycle respectively.

The  of a graph is the length of the longest (simple) cycle, rather than the shortest.

Thought of as the least length of a non-trivial cycle, the girth admits natural generalisations as the 1-systole or higher systoles in systolic geometry.

Girth is the dual concept to edge connectivity, in the sense that the girth of a planar graph is the edge connectivity of its dual graph, and vice versa. These concepts are unified in matroid theory by the girth of a matroid, the size of the smallest dependent set in the matroid. For a graphic matroid, the matroid girth equals the girth of the underlying graph, while for a co-graphic matroid it equals the edge connectivity.

Computation
The girth of an undirected graph can be computed by running a breadth-first search from each node, with complexity $$O(nm)$$ where $$n$$ is the number of vertices of the graph and $$m$$ is the number of edges. A practical optimization is to limit the depth of the BFS to a depth that depends on the length of the smallest cycle discovered so far. Better algorithms are known in the case where the girth is even and when the graph is planar. In terms of lower bounds, computing the girth of a graph is at least as hard as solving the triangle finding problem on the graph.

title: Girth (graph theory)


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Talk:Gregorian calendar/Archive 1

Can anyone please write about the history of names of the months please? Thanks.

An old version of this page said:

The Gregorian calendar also fixed the first day of the year as January 1, which was already the first day used in Italy, Germany, and other places, but not universally (the British Empire, for example, began the year on March 25). This is why the months named after the Latin numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 (September, October, November, December) are now the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th month, respectively.

I have removed this last line, because it is incorrect. The shift from March 1 to January 1 as the first day of the year was already made when the Julian Calendar was installed.

Isn't there something where rulers expanded the number of days in a year to add more festival days and therefore the calendar did not match the changing of the seasons?

That was before the Julian Calendar. Julius Caesar ended all that. What was remaining was an error of 8 days per millennium. - When did the shift to Jan 1 as the first of the year occur. Presently the Gregoian entry claims it and the Julian doesn't mention it. Is this true or not? - I'm afraid that there's no simple answer - it was irregular in different parts of Europe -- much like some corporations still operate on different fiscal years from others, the first of the year was not inflexible. Lots of medieval and renaissance historians have to double-date events (814/5) because it's not always entirely clear when some people in the past rolled over their year counter.

I think it's very unfortunate that articles for individual days don't have links to day, year or even to their respective months. Is anybody willing to write a little program to fix that? Zocky 20:41 Oct 22, 2002 (UTC)

How are russian dates before/after the revolution handled on wikipedia? Many russian sources have double entries for dates before 1917, given as "old style/new style".

title: Talk:Gregorian calendar/Archive 1


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Gun safety

Gun safety is the study and practice of managing risk when using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms, airguns and ammunition in order to avoid injury, illness or death.

Gun safety includes the training of users, the design of firearms, as well as the formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and usage. This includes mishaps like accidental discharge, negligent discharge, and firearm malfunctions, as well as secondary risks like hearing loss, lead poisoning from bullets, and pollution from other hazardous materials in propellants and cartridges.

History
Accidental explosions of stored gunpowder date to the 13th century in Yangzhou, China. Early handheld muskets using matchlock or wheel lock mechanisms were limited by poor reliability and the risk of accidental discharge, which was improved somewhat by the introduction of the flintlock, though unintentional firing continued to be a serious drawback. Percussion caps, introduced in the 1820s, were more reliable, and by 1830 security pins had been designed to prevent accidental discharges.

Trigger guards, grip safeties and integrated trigger safety represent further iterations on the various safeties built into modern firearms to prevent discharge from dropping, or without positive and deliberate manipulation of the trigger.

As mechanical reliability improved, human error became a more significant cause of harm. In 1902, the English politician and game shooting enthusiast Mark Hanbury Beaufoy wrote some much-quoted verses on gun safety, known as "A Father's Advice" or "The Beaufoy Verses" meant to instill safe practices in his son. Various similar sayings have since been popularized.

There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.

Overview
Most firearm safety relates to management of human factors. This includes training to mitigate unsafe handling, as well as restricting physical access to firearms by untrained or unfit persons (such as unsupervised children). Handling practices and doctrines necessarily vary between use cases with additional mechanical and procedural mitigations implemented as required.

Environmental hazards such as Lead exposure and noise pollution are managed via shooting range design, maintenance procedures, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Firearm safety practices are built around the Swiss cheese model, such that potential harm caused by a malfunction or a lapse in handling is mitigated (or prevented entirely) by other safety practices. For instance, use of an unloading facility ensures that if an procedural error is made during unloading and a round remains chambered, the resulting discharge when the handler eases springs is captured by a safe backstop.

Training
A leading cause of accidents with firearms results from unsafe handling due to ignorance or negligence.

Role-specific training varies in nature, although a few common principles underpin most doctrines including:

 * Trigger discipline
 * Muzzle discipline
 * Separation of firearm and ammunition whenever the firearm is not directly in use

Where firearms must be carried loaded (such as by law enforcement and military personnel), training and periodic re-qualification is particularly important as a control against unintentional discharge. Emphasis is often placed on loading and unloading practices as well as mechanical considerations such as holster design, and integrated trigger safety catches.

Jeff Cooper, an influential figure in US firearms training, formalized and popularized "Four Rules" of safe firearm handling.

Other lists of gun safety rules include as few as three basic safety rules or as many as ten rules including broader range safety and sporting etiquette rules. Such rulesets often include activity-specific best practice for niches including defensive use, hunting, and range or target shooting. Many organisations provide similar sets of rules.

In addition to basic safe handling practices, training includes identification and immediate actions to handle faults such as misfires and squib rounds that could lead to dangerous mishaps such as a barrel failure or breech explosion.

Storage
Proper storage prevents both damage and the unauthorized use or theft of firearms and ammunition.

Where a full cabinet is not practicable, locks may be used to prevent the firearm being loaded or discharged.

Gun cabinets
A gun safe or gun cabinet is commonly used to physically prevent access to a firearm. Various standards like the British Standard BS 7558:1992 or the California DOJ criteria define minimum requirements to qualify a container as a firearm storage device.

Local laws may mandate or simply recommend use of a cabinet for storage, and may require that cabinets meet a particular standard. Some juristictions require that ammunition is stored separately to the firearm. Some jurisdictions may require that components such as bolts are stored separately to the firearm, effectively deactivating it.

Many small safes sold as suitable for handguns have been found not to meet standards by independent researchers and professional hackers. Locking mechanism plays an important role in overall safety of the small safe.

Handloaders must take special precautions for storing primers and powders.

Locks
There are several types of locks that serve to make it difficult to discharge a firearm. Locks are considered less effective than keeping firearms in a safe since locks typically do not prevent the removal or theft of the firearm, after which the handler can bypass the lock at their leisure. Some manufacturers, such as Taurus, build locks into the firearm itself.

Some jurisidictions such as the US state of California require that locks be tested by a laboratory and receive approval for sale.

Trigger lock
Trigger locks prevent trigger manipulation. Some trigger locks are integrated into the design of the firearm, requiring no external parts besides the key. External trigger locks usually involve two pieces locking together from either side behind the trigger. This physically prevents the trigger from being depressed to discharge the firearm. They may also form part of a larger mechanism which locks the entire action. Other more commercially common types of trigger locks do not go behind the trigger, but encompass the full area within the trigger guard, making the trigger inaccessible to users. Advanced models may also feature anti-tamper alarms. A common critique of trigger locks is the time taken to unlock them, limiting their usefulness in a self-defense scenario. One proposed solution to this is the use of biometric locks which can be removed by the owner near-instantaneously.

There is controversy surrounding manufacturing standards, usage, and legislation of trigger locks. Supporters argue that they protect children by preventing accidents, whilst critics note some models have been shown to be easily removed by children with very little force and common household tools. Additionally, many firearms can discharge when dropped without operating the trigger. Trigger locks are not designed for use on loaded firearms as the locking mechanism itself may foul or manipulate the trigger if pressure is exerted on the lock or during installation/removal; critics argue that this may make the firearm more dangerous by creating the illusion of safety. A former senior product manager at Master Lock was quoted as saying "If it is a loaded gun, there isn't a lock out there that will keep it from being fired... If you put a trigger lock on any loaded gun, you are making the gun more dangerous."

Chamber & Cable locks
Chamber locks aim to block ammunition from being chambered, since most firearms typically cannot be discharged unless the ammunition is in the correct position. They are used to prevent live ammunition from being loaded into a firearm by blocking the chamber with a dummy cartridge or a chamber plug. Another type is one in which a steel rod locked into the safety cartridge with a key. As long as the rod and safety cartridge are engaged, the dummy round cannot eject nor can live ammunition be loaded into the firearm. Chamber locks work with most firearm types including revolvers, pistols, rifles and shotguns. They are available in any caliber and length, and may include such features as unique keying, rapid removal.

Cable locks usually thread through the receiver via the ejection port and magazine well of repeating firearms. These locks physically obstruct the movements of the bolt, preventing the cycling of the action.

Smart gun
Smart guns featuring "authorised user" technology, are intended to prevent unauthorized use with built-in locks that are released by fingerprint recognition, RFID chips, magnetic rings, a microchip implant or other proximity devices.

Their reliability has been disputed and no models have been commercially marketed.

Shooting Range Management
Shooting ranges augment physical design features with supervisory measures to ensure safe operation. In addition to generic gun safety rules, local rules or "Range Standing Orders" may be implemented to address specific features of a range.

Ranges will typically be operated under the command of a "Range Conducting Officer" (RCO or RO) or "Range Safety Officer" (RSO) who issues start and stop commands and checks that firearms are clear before being removed from the firing point, or before participants go forward to change targets. At competitions, the RCO may have a secondary responsibility of enforcing rules and fair play.

Safety flags
Safety flags or breech flags are commonly mandated on shooting ranges to demonstrate that the firearm's bolt or action is open and no round is chambered. For firearms with magazines, the flag may also indicate that the magazine well is clear. Most competition rules mandate the usage of flags whenever a firearm is not directly in use.

Safety lines or clear barrel indicators are mandated for air rifles and air pistols under ISSF rules. Safety lines typically consist of a nylon cord which shows the action is open and that no pellet is present in the breech or barrel.

In clay pigeon shooting, break-barrel shotguns are typically carried in a "broken" state to show that they cannot be fired. Semi-automatic shotguns are typically required to use a breech flag.

Safety areas
In practical shooting sports, a safety area or safety zone is a bay where competitors can handle unloaded firearms without the supervision of a Range Officer (RO). Safety areas are used in dynamic shooting sport disciplines such as IPSC, PPC 1500 and Steel Challenge, where the lack of a fixed firing point (where firearms would be unboxed in most target disciplines), neccesitates provision of a safe location for firearms to be unboxed and holstered before a competitor starts a stage. They may be used to pack, unpack or holster a gun, cleaning or repair, dry firing and training with empty magazines.

Impaired users
Firearms should never be handled by persons who are under the influence of alcohol or any drugs which may affect their judgment. Gun safety teachers advocate zero tolerance of their use. In the United States, this recommendation is codified in many states' penal codes as a crime of "carrying under the influence", with penalties similar to DWI/DUI. Other sources of temporary impairment include exhaustion, dehydration, and emotional stress. These can affect reaction time, cognitive processing, sensory perception, and judgment.

Many jurisdictions prohibit the possession of firearms by people deemed generally incapable of using them safely, such as the mentally ill or convicted felons.

Children

In most jurisdictions, unsupervised access to firearms by children is prohibited by law. Conditions for supervised training and usage, and penalties for allowing a child to access firearms vary with jurisdiction.

United States
In the United States, the NRA's Eddie Eagle program is intended to teach children to avoid firearm accidents when they encounter guns that have not been securely stored.

Eaddie Eagle has been criticised for casting responsibility onto children instead of placing the onus on the adult firearm owner to secure their firearm. Studies have cast doubt on the effectiveness of such programmes, whilst finding that Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws are more effective in reducing firearm injuries and deaths amongst children. In K-12 school shootings, more than 80% of shooters stole their guns from family members.

Eddie Eagle has been described as a "Trojan Horse" programme, designed as a way to deter lawmakers from passing CAP laws or mandating secure storage.

Unsupervised access to firearms is a major risk factor for youth suicide. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that keeping a gun in the home, especially a handgun, increases the risk of injury and death for young people.

Secondary hazards
While a firearm's primary danger lies in the discharge of ammunition, there are other ways a firearm may pose hazards to the health of the handler and bystanders.

Noise
When a firearm is discharged it emits a very loud noise, typically close to the handler's ears. This can cause temporary or permanent hearing damage such as tinnitus. Hearing protection such as earplugs, or earmuffs, or both, can reduce the risk of hearing damage. Some earmuffs or headphones made for shooting and similar loud situations use active noise control. Firearms may also have silencers which reduce the sound intensity from the barrel.

Hot gases and debris
Firearms emit hot gases, powder, and other debris when discharged. Some firearms, such as semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms, typically eject spent cartridge casings at high speed. Casings are also dangerously hot when ejected. Revolvers store spent casings in the chamber, but may emit a stream of hot gases and fine particulate debris laterally from the interface between the revolving chamber and the barrel.

Any of these may hurt the handler or bystanders through burning or impact damage. Because eyes are particularly vulnerable to this type of damage, eye protection should be worn to reduce the risk of injury. Prescription lenses and various tints to suit different light conditions are available. Some eye protection products are rated to withstand impact from birdshot loads, which offers protection against irresponsible firearms use by other game bird shooters.

Compressed Air & CO2
Pre-charged pneumatic airguns use air cylinders with operating pressures in excess of 200 bar. These are commonly refilled from diving cylinders, which are periodically recharged at a dive shop. Mishandling of pressure vessels can result in serious injury or death. Tanks and cylinders should be maintained and inspected in accordance with manufacturer's instructions, and only used by trained individuals.

Toxins and pollutants
In recent years the toxic effects of ammunition and firearm cleaning agents have been highlighted.

 * Lead dust may build up on indoor ranges.
 * Lead ammunition left in nature may become mobilized by acid rain.
 * Older ammunition may have mercury-based primers.
 * Lead accumulates in shooting range backstops.

Indoor ranges require good ventilation to remove pollutants such as powder, smoke, and lead dust from the air around the shooters, and regular cleaning and maintenance to prevent buildup of contaminants.

Indoor and outdoor ranges typically require extensive decontamination when they are decommissioned to remove all traces of lead, copper, and powder residues from the area. Lead, copper and other metals will also be released when a firearm is cleaned. Highly aggressive solvents and other agents used to remove lead and powder fouling may also present a hazard to health. Installing good ventilation, washing hands after handling firearms, and cleaning the space where the firearm was handled lessens the risk of unnecessary exposure.

title: Gun safety


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Talk:Gun safety

Treat firearms as if they are loaded
Currently, this section does not cite any sources. I have just added a link to a YouTube page in which Jeff Cooper lists his four rules of gun safety, and explains his working of rule_1. Does this qualify as a reference? JHowardGibson (talk) 17:07, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

Rewrite as an encyclopedia article not a how-to manual
The policy WP:NOTHOWTO is pretty clear, and the basic structure and sectioning of this article flies in the face of it. It's obvious from the first section, Rules and mindset, that the intent is to instruct the reader. Compare this article with automotive safety, food safety, pharmacovigilance, toy safety, aviation safety and so on. This article, gun safety, is nothing like a normal encyclopedia article. The automotive safety article, for example, provides an overview of the various factors that affect the risks around cars: the design, the driver, other drivers, the environment, regulation, enforcement. It would look silly if the article consisted almost entirely of "driver should do this, drivers should never do that, and also never do that or that". Automotive safety doesn't contain any kind of list of dos and don'ts for drivers at all, but merely classifies driver training and psychology as one of many safety topics, and describes various theories about it. Toy safety does not exhort the reader "always pick up your toys!" and "never light your toys on fire!". Because this is an encyclopedia.This needs a complete reorganization, rewrite, and most of this excessive detail needs to be dumped. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 06:16, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

 * Going once? So far nobody has objected to deleting all the how-to content. There's probably bits that are salvageable but I don't see any sign of that happening. And the salvageable bit are easily re-created and re-written without all the non-encyclopedic how-to advice. Anybody have a problem with just nuking most of these how-to sections and keeping a basic outline of gun safety practices? if not... 3... 2... 1... --Dennis Bratland (talk) 01:39, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

 * I just discovered this now. I have used Wikipedia's article on gun safety as a reference on gun safety.  We need to distinguish between a set of rules, and a step by step procedure.  I agree that Wikipedia has no business listing the steps needed to dismantle and clean a 1911 Colt .45.  Jeff Cooper's rules on gun safety are not a procedure.  They are in fact, most of your gun safety strategy.  If someone searches Wikipedia on gun safety, they should see this. JHowardGibson (talk) 18:35, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

 * You don't mention any reason why we don't want gun maintenance instructions but we do want gun safety instructions. Why the exception?WP:NOTHOWTO is clear that instructing the reader in the imperative mood is not OK. It also mentions that Wikibooks is right there. People can certainly have access to gun safety slogans and checklists. You can even link to them in the external links section.Have you looked at automotive safety, food safety, pharmacovigilance, toy safety, aviation safety, etc? It's pretty clear we don't write articles like, well, this.Should Wikipedia really be telling car drivers to put their hands at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock on the steering wheel? If you dig around in articles on car safety you'll come across how the steering wheel hand position drivers were taught to use had to change with the introduction of air bags. Anti-lock braking system gets into how driver skills had to change to adapt to antilock brakes, especially fleet drivers who alternated between ABS and non-ABS cars. That is encyclopedic content. Not just telling readers do this, don't do that. Instead thinking in depth about why this is taught, and that is not. What are the different points of view on gun safety? I don't think anyone has even tried to research that here. Do all experts agree on this topic? I doubt it.Eddie Eagle doesn't recite the curriculum or feature a copy-paste of bullet points or checklists; rather it looks at how the program has functioned in society, and evaluations of whether it helps, or even causes harm. Same with Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Look at the tens of thousands of Category:Cuisine articles, and not a complete recipe in any. Or very few; there's policy violations here and there but someone will get to them.It's totally fine to mention some of the content of gun safety eduction. But it needs to be for the purpose of showing readers "what is gun safety?" not "how to be safe with your gun". Mentioning some of Jeff Cooper's rules is fine so we can see what they are like, and compare them to other approaches. But we wouldn't have a complete list, for the same reason we don't have Plot-only description of fictional works or complete walkthroughs of video games, as explained at the WP:PLOT policy.I'd also suggest reviewing the arguments at WP:USEFUL. No disclaimers also expands on the broad consensus that we will stay focused on making a good encyclopedia, not trying to solve other problems.Keep in mind that if you put a lot of effort into putting how-to lists of gun safety rules into an article, eventually any editor with basic reading comprehension is going to see that it violates policy, and they're going to come and delete it. You could put it back again but then someone else will delete it. The policy doesn't really leave wiggle room. Do the same over at Wikibooks and your contribution will last and be used by many readers. Or research the topics I mentioned above, and you'll make a much better encyclopedia article and your contributions will stick around, in some form at least. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:26, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I am making a distinction between procedures and rules. If you read articles and watch videos on YouTube, almost everybody emphasises that mindset is more important than the technology.  The history of gun safety and the alternate rules were interesting too.  A gun is a deadly weapon and therefore it is more dangerous than aircraft, cars, food, pharmaceuticals, and toys.  The first thing you need to know about gun safety is the rules for handling firearms.  Read the page on Kelly Johnson.  It contains his 14 Rules of Management, and it ought to.  It describes how the man worked.  JHowardGibson (talk) 17:52, 18 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia has policies and guidelines. And local consensus and essays. There's very firm rules and many levels of weaker rules. So yes, that's a thing. And the policy Ignore all rules exists. So there you go: break any rule you want. In theory you could get away with literally anything, because IAR. In practice, that kind of thing falls flat on its face 99.9999% of the time. Not always, but you have got to have a very, very special circumstances. You have to get a lot of people to want to go along with it.Whether guns are more dangerous than cars or pharmaceuticals is widely debated. Most of the bellowing ex-Marine drill sergeants who bellow gun safety rules in all caps are the same ones who argue swimming pools are more dangerous than guns. It depends how you define "dangerous". That whole can of worms is called gun politics. Yikes.I think the first thing you'd have to do to make a case that WP:IAR applies to gun safety but not food safety or toy safety is to prove with overwhelming evidence that gun safety slogans, checklists, mnemonic and so forth actually work. From what I can tell, that is highly debated and not a settled question; see Eddie Eagle again, or D.A.R.E.I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think you're climbing a very steep mountain and there's a vast amount of history that has gotten us here. Medical disclaimer says in big all caps "WIKIPEDIA DOES NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE". Maybe guns are different but it's hard to see. Do we have to make sure we tell everyone the safe way to shoot heroin? Is it the probability of death when doing the thing or the total number of people hurt by the thing? When did any of this become the responsibility of encyclopedias? Before Wikipedia existed, would anyone have expected to ever find a complete list of gun safety warnings in Encyclopedia Brittanica or World Book? Maybe, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't.The amount of work you're talking about is far less than just expanding the article in the usual encyclopedia way as I described. By giving readers a broad, solid survey of the topic of gun safety, what the issues are, the history, the methodology, etc, they're going to have the tools and motivation they need to go learn what they need to learn, if they want to get a gun.Kelly Johnson is a dab page but I think you mean Kelly Johnson (engineer). I would say that article violates policy, which as I mentioned, you can find examples of that. I don't want to go chasing down every example, but I would bet that before such an article is promoted to WP:Good article or WP:Featured article, the copy-paste of all 14 rules will be pared down and summarized. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:00, 18 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia has policies and guidelines. And local consensus and essays. There's very firm rules and many levels of weaker rules. So yes, that's a thing. And the policy Ignore all rules exists. So there you go: break any rule you want. In theory you could get away with literally anything, because IAR. In practice, that kind of thing falls flat on its face 99.9999% of the time. Not always, but you have got to have a very, very special circumstances. You have to get a lot of people to want to go along with it.Whether guns are more dangerous than cars or pharmaceuticals is widely debated. Most of the bellowing ex-Marine drill sergeants who bellow gun safety rules in all caps are the same ones who argue swimming pools are more dangerous than guns. It depends how you define "dangerous". That whole can of worms is called gun politics. Yikes.I think the first thing you'd have to do to make a case that WP:IAR applies to gun safety but not food safety or toy safety is to prove with overwhelming evidence that gun safety slogans, checklists, mnemonic and so forth actually work. From what I can tell, that is highly debated and not a settled question; see Eddie Eagle again, or D.A.R.E.I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think you're climbing a very steep mountain and there's a vast amount of history that has gotten us here. Medical disclaimer says in big all caps "WIKIPEDIA DOES NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE". Maybe guns are different but it's hard to see. Do we have to make sure we tell everyone the safe way to shoot heroin? Is it the probability of death when doing the thing or the total number of people hurt by the thing? When did any of this become the responsibility of encyclopedias? Before Wikipedia existed, would anyone have expected to ever find a complete list of gun safety warnings in Encyclopedia Brittanica or World Book? Maybe, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't.
The amount of work you're talking about is far less than just expanding the article in the usual encyclopedia way as I described. By giving readers a broad, solid survey of the topic of gun safety, what the issues are, the history, the methodology, etc, they're going to have the tools and motivation they need to go learn what they need to learn, if they want to get a gun.
Kelly Johnson is a dab page but I think you mean Kelly Johnson (engineer). I would say that article violates policy, which as I mentioned, you can find examples of that. I don't want to go chasing down every example, but I would bet that before such an article is promoted to WP:Good article or WP:Featured article, the copy-paste of all 14 rules will be pared down and summarized. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:00, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

What happened to discipline details?
There was information on gun discipline, like information on correct handling of guns. Examples being trigger discipline, and the two other disciplines, so what happened to it? it's missing! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a00:23c4:489c:6101:ca5:18fa:1c66:d45f (talk • contribs) 10:51, July 11, 2021 (UTC)

 * Scroll up. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:28, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Four rules
It seems like a frankly bizarre decision to explicitly mention the four rules, and allude to them multiple times, but not actually list them. Trilobright (talk) 16:20, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
 * They have been removed following a discussion. I also think it would be beneficial to quote them (as previously) or summarize. I understand they are used in education. I reckon most citations have been kept, but they’re for verification, not to read about them in the first place. ‑‑ K (🗪  |  ✍) 17:48, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Gun safety


text:
Talk:Firearm

Firearm description not correct
Description of "firearm" is not correct, although citation is correct it is out of context and applies to prohibited or controlled types of firearms. The better description is https://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearms-guides-importation-verification-firearms-ammunition-gun-control-act-definitions#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9CFirearm%E2%80%9D%20means%3A,muffler%20or%20firearm%20silencer%3B%20or Namely anything that can shoot a projectile by explosive means and is clarified to include the frame or receiver even if there is no barrel Pedia932 (talk) 20:25, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 21:59, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
 * specified text should be replaced by
 * The term “firearm” is defined at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3) as:
 * Any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;
 * The frame or receiver of any such weapon. Any firearm muffler or firearm silencer. Any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm. Pedia932 (talk) 01:46, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

Text on Page should be replaced by

The term “firearm” is defined at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3) as:

Any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;

The frame or receiver of any such weapon. Any firearm muffler or firearm silencer. Any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pedia932 (talk • contribs) 01:45, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

 * Wikipedia is global. Any definition we use must also be global, not just an American one. HiLo48 (talk) 02:12, 23 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I mean we could attribute it, maybe not just as the sole definition, we could include other definitions as well. As long as all are attributed. TomaHawk61 (talk) 19:55, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 April 2023
The current definition stated is closer to "Small Arms" not a firearm.

Change: A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual

To: A firearm is a weapon which is designed to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. 73.126.57.180 (talk) 23:42, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: I agree with you, but it appears the is written with that definition of firearm, despite the fact at least one of the three cited sources contradict it. I suggest you open a requested move instead. Snowmanonahoe (talk) 00:01, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

Incorrect credit given to author of law
Article states: “This is the ATF definition of a title II "NFA firearm", as defined by the National Firearms Act”

BATFE did not author or pass the National Firearms act, the United States Congress did. BATFE has no constitutional authority to pass laws or create legal definitions 2600:6C63:43F0:400:BC26:EAFC:9C0E:1849 (talk) 18:38, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Technology and Culture
— Assignment last updated by Thecanyon (talk) 05:33, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Needs major cleanup
Huge swaths of this article have uncited claims which is bad enough to merit a cleanup, but, worse, some sections are unreadable to a person (like me) who just wants an encyclopedic article on "firearms". It feels like people had certain bits of information they wanted known and didn't have the time to make it relevant for the article or even to put it in the correct location. For example, the very first section, Types starts out okay mentioning heavy and light weapons, but soon gets derailed by a list of the top firearms manufacturers and how many firearms exist in the world and who owns them, with no reference to type of firearms. That ignominious introduction is followed by a list of the most notable types of firearms, which could have been useful, but gets bogged down repeatedly in the weeds of ever finer distinctions. Consider this paragraph in the section Types, subsection Long guns, subsubsection sniper rifles:

Examples of sniper and scout rifles include the M40 rifle, Heckler & Koch PSG1, Walther WA 2000, Accuracy International AWM, M24 Sniper Weapon System, Steyr Scout, Sako TRG, and CheyTac Intervention. Examples of anti-materiel and anti-tank rifles include the Mauser Tankgewehr M1918, Boys anti-tank rifle, PTRS-41, Barrett M82, Gepárd anti-materiel rifle, and McMillan TAC-50. Examples of designated marksman rifles include the SVD, SR-25, Dragunov SVU, Marine Scout Sniper Rifle, Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle, and M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System.

That entire paragraph can be removed since the preceding text already gives an example of a "sniper rifle" and includes a link to the main article on Sniper Rifles. In fact, I would suggest that the Long guns subsection shouldn't have any sub-subsections at all; just include a short summary as was done for Hand guns. When people want to delve deeper into the nitty gritty, they can read the Long gun article. Let this article be about the general term Firearms, not all these specifics. 24.16.239.30 (talk) 18:35, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

 * What information about Firearms are you attempting to find in the article that isn't there? ⇒   SWAT Jester   Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat! 23:26, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Firearm


text:
Go Down Moses

"Go Down Moses" is an African American spiritual that describes the Hebrew exodus, specifically drawing from the Book of Exodus 5:1: "And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me", where God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. As is common in spirituals, the song discusses freedom, referring both to the freedom of the Israelites, and that of runaway enslaved people. As a result of these messages, this song was outlawed by many enslavers.

The opening verse as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872:

Lyrically, the song discusses the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. This story held a second meaning for enslaved African Americans, as they related their experiences under slavery to those of Moses and the Israelites who were enslaved by the pharaoh, and they resonated with the message that God will come to the aid of the persecuted. "Go Down Moses" also makes references to the Jordan River, commonly associated with reaching freedom in spirituals because such an act of running away often involved crossing one or more rivers. Since the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as further south, and thus, lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land, heading to Egypt means going "down" while going away from Egypt is "up". In the context of American slavery, this ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the Mississippi), where enslaved people's conditions were notoriously worse. Later verses also draw parallels between the Israelites' freedom from slavery and humanity's freedom won by Christ.

"Oh! Let My People Go"
Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest written record of the song was as a rallying anthem for the Contrabands at Fort Monroe sometime before July 1862. White people who reported on the song presumed it was composed by them. This became the first spiritual to be recorded in sheet music that is known of, by Reverend Lewis Lockwood. While visiting Fortress Monroe in 1861, he heard runaway enslaved people singing this song, transcribed what he heard, and eventually published it in the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Sheet music was soon after published titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands", arranged by Horace Waters. L.C. Lockwood, chaplain of the Contrabands, stated in the sheet music that the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853. However, the song was not included in Slave Songs of the United States, despite its being a very prominent spiritual among enslaved people. Furthermore, the original version of the song sung by enslaved people almost definitely sounded very different from what Lockwood transcribed by ear, especially following an arrangement by a person who had never before heard the song as it was originally sung. The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is:

Sarah Bradford's authorized biography of Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used "Go Down Moses" as one of two code songs used with fugitive enslaved people to communicate when fleeing Maryland. Tubman began her underground railroad work in 1850 and continued until the beginning of the Civil War, so it is possible Tubman's use of the song predates the origin claimed by Lockwood. Some people even hypothesize that she herself may have written the spiritual. Others claim that Nat Turner, who led one of the most well-known slave revolts in history, either wrote or was the inspiration for the song.

Recordings

 * The Tuskegee Institute Singers recorded the song for Victor in 1914.
 * The Kelly Family recorded the song twice: live version is included on their album Live (1988) and a studio version on New World (1990). The latter also features on their compilation album The Very Best - Over 10 Years (1993).
 * The Golden Gate Quartet (Duration: 3:05; recorded in 1957 for their album Spirituals).
 * "Go Down Moses" was recorded by the Robert Shaw Chorale on RCA Victor 33 record LM/LSC 2580, copyright 1964, first side, second band, lasting 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Liner notes by noted African-American author Langston Hughes.

title: Go Down Moses