| |
World's trigger-happy
population keeps growing
By David
Isenberg
The international stockpile of small
arms continues to grow, according to the latest edition
of an annual yearbook, the Small Arms Survey group,
based in Geneva. About 7 million mostly civilian small
arms are produced annually, far exceeding the amount of
arms removed from the weapons supply.
The survey
said its estimate of the global value of small-arms
production remains unchanged at about US$7.4 billion -
with the United States and Russia accounting for more
than 70 percent of production. The estimate of the legal
small-arms trade - $4 billion a year - also remains the
same, with the European Union dominating the
international export market. Many of the regions worst
affected by small-arms violence, such as Southeast Asia
and sub-Saharan Africa, appear to be minor players in
the legal small-arms trade. Also, the data, while not
conclusive, suggest that the overall value of the
international legal small-arms trade is declining.
The section on stockpiles estimates the total
number of small arms around the world to be 639 million.
It also shows, contrary to the conventional wisdom of
many commentators, that Europe has been significantly
affected by the growing availability of small arms. It
is estimated some 84 million civilian firearms are in
the 15 states of the European Union. Of these, 80
percent - 67 million guns - are in civilian hands.
While the total is still far less than the
estimated 238 million to 276 million civilian-owned guns
in the United States, it is more than many analysts
previously estimated.
The yearbook was released
during a recent United Nations conference in New York to
evaluate progress since the UN Conference on the Illicit
Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects, held in July 2001, devised a program of action
meant to encourage greater international cooperation in
addressing the issue.
The number of producing
countries remains unchanged at 98, many of which have
small-scale or dormant production facilities. Twenty of
those countries are in the Asia-Pacific region,
comprising 21 percent of the total. This includes one
major producer (China, although accurate statistics are
not available from that country) and medium producers
such as India, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea
and Taiwan.
Of the major small-arms-producing
companies worldwide only one Asian company, China's
Norinco, is among the top five. In terms of the six
small-arms categories - military sidearms, rifles,
submachine-guns, machine-guns, small-arms ammunition,
and grenade launchers - it is included in all but
military sidearms.
To no one's surprise the
United States remains the single most important
small-arms producer. It has the largest number of
companies for a single country that produce small arms
and/or ammunition, is a major exporter of small arms,
and is estimated to have one of the world's largest
domestic markets for small arms. In 2000, the last year
for which statistics are available, more than 3.8
million small arms were produced in the US. Also, more
than a million firearms are imported from the US
annually, while about 400,000 (including military small
arms) are exported annually. With roughly 83-96 guns per
100 people, the United States is approaching a
statistical level of one gun per person.
The
country with the second-highest gun ownership is Yemen,
with between 33 and 50 firearms per 100 people, followed
by Finland with 39 per 100, the survey said.
By
comparison, the states of the European Union, now
thought to have many more guns than previously
estimated, have 17.4 guns per 100 people.
One
country that is heavily armed is Australia. The survey
estimates there are 2.1 million private firearms in
Australia. Australian gun ownership - one
privately-owned gun for every nine people - surpasses
the global ratio, which is just one gun for every 16
people.
Although the proliferation of small arms
is still a serious and dire problem - think of the film
Bowling for Columbine on a global scale - there
are bits of encouraging news here and there, if one
reads the yearbook closely.
For example, the
data, while not conclusive, suggest that the overall
value of the international legal small-arms trade is
declining. And, outside of Europe, the number of small
arms appears to be fewer than commonly assumed. In
Afghanistan, the widely-used number of 10 million small
arms in circulation almost certainly is a serious
exaggeration. In reality, there probably are 500,000 to
1.5 million small arms there. Similarly, in Yemen, the
previously reported figure of up to 80 million small
arms is almost certainly wrong. A more reliable estimate
is 6 million to 9 million.
Surprisingly, even
security-obsessed Israel has relatively few small arms.
Private weapons appear to be carefully restricted. While
Israel has at least 363,000 weapons in public hands,
that equals about six civilian firearms per 100
citizens, or about 7.1 percent of the US figure.
But when it comes to specific countries, the
situation in certain Asian countries is still dangerous.
According to the survey, apart from Afghanistan, the
entire central and South Asian region continues to be
heavily involved in the small-arms trade. One example is
Nepal, party to the best-publicized small-arms deal of
2002, involving several contracts signed by the
government for automatic rifles and machine-guns.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
