"There are
270 millions guns circulating in America, and 40 percent of the population owns
at least one, despite the fact that dozens of studies show that having a gun in
your home raises your risk of dying in a homicide or suicide fivefold. ... But
when one considers what is happening in the rest of the world, where the circulation
of small arms is extensive and out of control, there is nothing strange about
this. ... There are at least 650 million small arms
circulating on our planet, one for every ten people, which kill at least 500,000
human beings a year."
The massacre in Newtown marks an important difference
between the United States and the rest of the West, where gun ownership is severely
restricted and tightly regulated. There are 270 millions guns circulating in
America, and 40 percent of the population owns at least one, despite the fact
that dozens of studies show that having a gun in your home raises your risk of dying
in a homicide or suicide fivefold.
But when one considers what is happening in the rest of the
world, where the circulation of small arms is extensive and out of control,
there is nothing strange about this. There are at least 650 million small arms
circulating on our planet, one for every ten people, which kill at least 500,000
human beings a year. That's one death every 60 seconds: 300,000 per year in war,
and 200,000 in murders or suicides.
They are largely lightweight and easy to use, carry and conceal.
They require almost no maintenance and last for decades. Moreover, they are
very cheap: ten years ago in Uganda, one could obtain an AK-47 in exchange for a
chicken. Nowadays across half of the world, one can be bought for $10-$15. And guns
have another virtue: the fact that they are light and easy to use means they
can be safely operated by a child - like the 300,000 child-soldiers or the
hundreds of thousands recruited by organized gangs, from the forests of the Congo
to the streets of Los Angeles.
For decades, civic associations, the United Nations and non-governmental
organizations have been fighting to push through international legislation to control
trade in these weapons, and strictly regulating the granting of patents and
export permits. But the results have so far been meager. There is much talk
about disarmament and non-proliferation, but when the global arms trade is
controlled by the five permanent members of the Security Council, things become
more difficult. At their side are other influential states that each export at
least $100 million in small arms every year: Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria,
Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, Belgium and Spain.
In fact, the market for these weapons has doubled in volume
over the past four years, reaching $8.5 billion on the official market. The black
market is estimated to be about $2 billion, but could easily be $10 billion. The
production of small arms and ammunition involves 1,135 companies, and 80
percent of buyers are private citizens.
Anyone can afford a firearm today. It is a market greatly
ginned up by subsidies granted to companies in the sector by the governments of
several countries. So prices remain low and circulation rises dramatically. Apparently,
governments think that promoting the use of these items corresponds with the common
good.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
Much could be done to tackle the problem, starting with the
effective enforcement of already-existing laws and implementation of serious
checks under these regulations. In the great majority of countries, there is no
way to know how many weapons cross the border or what hands they may end up in.
Furthermore, some states gladly offer themselves as intermediaries for traffic involving
armed groups, common criminals, criminal cartels and militias.
It is a problem that continues to get worse, because now,
the issue of weapons occupies a legal and moral vacuum. We ourselves are so accustomed
to and resigned to their spread, that we feel little indignation about it
anymore, unless, of course, something like the incidents at Columbine or Newtown
occur. In 2013, we will resume talks on more stringent international
legislation. So far, all attempts have failed, which is chiefly the fault of the
United States. Perhaps what happened at Newtown will engender a little common
sense.
