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A global crisis has erupted as an estimated 640 million firearms in international circulation add fuel to the flames of violence. Worldwide, weaponry in the form of small arms (hand guns, rifles, light machine guns, etc) is being traded between radical political groups under the dubious premise of ending conflict:

Six plane loads of weaponry and ammunition found their way into Goma (a city located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa) according to a BBC news report dated August 1, 2008. This has influenced more than ten thousand civilians to evacuate the area, as Tim Shortley, US Senior African conflict counselor, describes as “preparations for renewed conflict” threaten peacekeepers in Goma.

In Southern Ossetia, Georgian troops are utilizing G36 assault rifles to battle the Russian army. These rifles are the standard weapon for the German military, and as such have no business in Ossetia. German law states that arms are not to be transported internationally without government approval, especially to a country in crisis.

This October, Pakistani anti-Taliban tribunal fighters received Chinese AK 47’s. An IANSA (International Action Network on Small Arms) report dated October 24, 2008 said that North West Frontier Province (NWFP) locals can attain an AK 47 for as little as $30.

Trafficking these small arms to desired locations has resulted in enormous profits, and this international trade is increasing rapidly.

The United Nations, especially the powerful G-8 countries, supply over 80% of global arms. The United States is currently the world leader in terms of gun exports.

“US weapons sales to foreign countries in 2008 are on track to be 45% higher than in 2007,” said a FPIF (Foreign Policy in Focus) article, dated September, 19, 2008.

Estimated US profits of $2-10 billion per year have been acquired through distributing small arms in the black market, most commonly by bartering for diamonds or various drugs.

It’s no surprise that, on Friday, October 31st, the US voted against a movement to support the Arms Trade Treaty in the United Nations First Committee on disarmament. 147 UN states voted to support a working group designed to carefully facilitate and scrutinize the arms trade. Only the US and Zimbabwe voted against the proposition.

Surprisingly, small arms are far more deadly than the larger weapons of war such as tanks, planes, and missiles. For many countries, the US included, small arms are the leading cause of death. Small arms are responsible for the deaths of over two million children since 1990, as wells as a yearly death toll of 200,000 people in peaceful nations, said an IANSA news report in 2006. 300,000 people die each year from wartime combat, and an estimated one and a half million are severely injured.

Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam international, said, "No one but a criminal would knowingly sell a gun to a murderer, yet governments can sell weapons to regimes with a history of human rights violations or to countries where weapons will go to war criminals."

--Submitted by Pete Jansen, Staff Reporter