The social impacts of light weapons availability and proliferation

Abstract

"The linkages between the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, globalization and social disintegration have been greatly under-researched. The dearth of serious enquiry into these relationships is all the more significant because small arms and light weapons continue to be commonly used in many of the violent civil and ethnic conflicts of the post-Cold War era. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) documented 34 major armed conflicts (with casualties exceeding 1,000 persons) in 1993, all of which were being conducted mainly with light weapons and small arms. A number of these conflicts were also using major weapons systems.1 While it is obvious that there is a correlation between the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, societal violence and a general weakening of the social fabric, identifying the exact nature of this relationship in any one situation or universally is more problematic. In addition, too little is known about the international trade in these weapons and the true extent of societal militarization around the world. Light weapon has been used as a generic term to describe all conventional munitions that can be carried by an individual combatant or by a light vehicle.2 This includes small arms (defined below), bazookas, rocket propelled grenades, light anti-tank missiles, light mortars, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and hand placed landmines.3 Small arms is a sub-category, consisting of automatic weapons up to 20 mm, including sub-machine guns, rifles, carbines and handguns.4 Most light weapons do not require complex training or expertise to operate making them suitable for insurgents and irregular forces, which lack the formal infrastructure of a professional army. Furthermore, the specification of small arms is important in terms of military and non-military demand and usage of light weaponry. While organized groups, normally described in terms of their military activity, will use the whole range of light weapons, criminal and other non-military requirements have traditionally only involved small arms. But there is an increasing overlap between the two categories as both military and non-military materiel become more available. As this paper attempts to illustrate, the social impacts of light weapons proliferation are increasing and becoming more diverse."(pg 1)