Small Arms, Big Problem

A while ago, at World Affairs Council of Phila, I did a Model UN with the topic of small arms trade, and I won Best Delegate. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the topic...

Almost everyone knows that Sub-Saharan Africa is filled with wars, conflict, and genocide. There's civil war in Uganda, genocide in Sudan, pirates in Somalia, and instability everywhere else as a result. What most people don't know is that most of these conflicts are either caused or perpetuated by the small arms trade. Think about it: without small arms (rifles, pistols, machine guns), how would these terrorist groups, rebels and pirates force their way? How would they combat the police, armies and citizens? Weapons of mass destruction, huge tanks, copters and naval ships are expensive, easy to detect, inconvenient to use and hard to maintain. Small arms, on the other hand, are light, cheap, simple to operate and easy to smuggle. In fact, in regions of southern Africa, AK-47 automatics are readily available for as little as $6, mainly because they are so light. Most African rebel groups use these specific guns for child soldiers, as they are so easy to handle that even children as young as 8 years old can fire them.

The main issue with small arms in terms of use is their value and effectiveness. For cheap prices, these guns last long and can be easily used to kill many people. Face it, one man armed with a FN MAG machine gun stands a pretty good chance against even 10 unarmed people. Maintaining this 1:10 ratio, and assuming that each gun costs $20, that means that a group of 10 able-bodied individuals who have $200 to spend and are willing to get dirty could take out 100 civilians. Although slightly exaggerated, those numbers are startling. The rampant proliferation of illegal small weapons is like fuel to an already raging fire. The only way to stop the fire is to cut off the fuel.

The problem with simply ending the weapons trade is that many economies in Western Africa will be severely hurt by this. So, a complex solution must be devised to compensate for this. We will just have to wait and see what happens...