Small Arms Survey 2007

[Héctor]

The emergence of small arms proliferation as a major international issue in the 1990s was accompanied by widespread frustration at ignorance over how many small arms existed and where they mattered most. Subsequent research has made it possible to speak about the dimensions of the problem much more concretely. The relationship between society and small arms is changing the world over. Small arms are proliferating virtually everywhere. And it is civilian ownership, the focus of this chapter, which appears to be changing most rapidly. Among the major findings of this chapter are the following:
• Civilians own about 650 million firearms worldwide, roughly 75 per cent of the known total. US citizens alone own some 270 million of these.
• There are at least 875 million combined civilian, law enforcement, and military firearms in the world today.
• There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide.
Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per ten people.
• Organized destruction projects have eliminated at least 8.3 million small arms since 1991, three-quarters of which come from armed services. In addition, an unknown number are lost through accidental wastage.
The total of some 650 million civilian firearms—and thus at least 875 million firearms in all—is a significant increase over previous Small Arms Survey estimates, which looked only at law enforcement and official military firearms. The new estimate does not represent a real increase, but rather results from better global reporting, additional research, and more effective research methods.

The complete text in: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/...
Versión española en: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/...

[SYED]

I don't know wht conditions and situations are in other countries but in our country due to different religious sects u must have to safe yourself for that person our family have arms including 4pistols,three 7mm guns,one repeater,and one small short gun and i know how to fire from these weapons these are for just security reasons not to kill anybody else.

[Enespaniol]

Small wars...