Running Guns: The Global Black Market in Small Arms

by Laura Lumpe (Editor)

Whether the war zone be in Africa, Sri Lanka, Chechnya or Afghanistan, most people are not killed by hi-tech or heavy weaponry, but by the small arms, cheap and accessible, that have flooded into so many countries in recent years. Crime rates involving guns have also soared, as South Africa and Kenya have experienced. Yet much of this cross-border arms trade is illegal. Several governments, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, are now pressing for a new global treaty on illegal trafficking in small arms.

This book is a fascinating, highly informative and policy-relevant investigation into an issue about which far too little is known, and which raises crucial questions about the black market.

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2000

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read, if a big academic. Comprised of individual chapters written by various specialists, the book starts off with a lively chapter by Brian Johnson-Thomas on his investigations on an arms deal involving a Slovak munitions company and the Government of Sudan (or Chad, depending on whom you wish to believe). The rest of the book slowly runs out of steam, while never being boring, the subsequent chapters can be slightly tedious and would benefit from a slightly less academic bent and the incorporation of anecdotal evidence.