Where do Vance and Walz stand on gun control? Views are expressed during the debate.

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faced off during Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, which included a series of questions about gun violence in U.S. schools.

Both candidates acknowledged the impact of gun violence as parents of young children.

Vance suggested empowering law enforcement to crack down on illegal gun ownership and increasing school safety as policy solutions.

“We have to ensure that the doors are locked better. We need to make the doors stronger,” Vance said. “And of course we need to increase the number of school staff, because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys just doesn’t fit with recent experience.”

In response, Walz highlighted Minnesota’s implementation of enhanced red flag laws and background checks as proactive steps toward reducing gun violence.

Walz also noted the successful approaches seen in other countries, such as Finland, where gun ownership is associated with significantly less gun violence.

“There are no mass shootings happening even though they have high gun ownership rates in the country,” Walz said. “There are reasonable things we can do to make a difference. It does not violate your Second Amendment rights.”

Fact check: What Tim Walz and JD Vance got right (and wrong) during the VP debate

How often do mass shootings occur in the US compared to other Western countries?

The US, together with 36 other Western countries, makes up 33% of the population. However, it is responsible for 76% of public mass shootings and 70% of deaths from those shootings between 2000 and 2022, according to a February report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

According to the report, the US has experienced 109 mass shootings, compared to 3 in Finland, where there have been no mass shootings since 2010.

Mass murder database: Revealing trends, details and concerns from every US event since 2006

How widespread are unregistered firearms?

Traditional firearms are manufactured by licensed companies and sold through licensed dealers, with all legal weapons in the US required to have a serial number.

The lack of serial numbers or background checks for ghost guns, or guns that cannot be traced, makes it impossible to determine the exact number of unregistered firearms in circulation.

More: Hawaii Rep. Jill Tokuda Targets ‘Zombie Guns’ Loophole, Creating Untraceable Firearms

Jeremy Yurow is a political journalist based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at [email protected] or at X, formerly Twitter @JeremyYurow