Small Arms

The real weapons of mass destruction

Small arms, such as assault rifles, machine guns, submachine guns and pistols are causing devastation in many parts of the world. There are an estimated 639 million small arms worldwide¹ and they kill over half a million people every year.² The effect on civilians is perhaps most disturbing, with non-combatants accounting for between 30% and 90% of conflict-related deaths.

Small arms can greatly exacerbate or even create political instability. Charles Taylor, the former leader of Liberia, triggered a civil war costing 200,000 lives using a group of 150 combatants armed with AK- 47s.³ But the tragedy does not stop even when war ends. Once weapons have flooded a conflict zone, they remain and undermine efforts to return to normality. The Small Arms Survey reports that 'civilian death rates are known to remain constant or even rise in post conflict situations'⁴ as insecurity leads to a vicious circle of higher demand for small arms.

Small arms suppliers

Many of the small arms and light weapons in circulation come from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly since the end of the Cold War. However, small arms proliferation now has a much wider geographical base with 1,134 companies producing weapons in 98 countries.⁵

The table below shows the world's five largest producers of different categories of small arms. Western European companies feature strongly, including Heckler & Koch of Germany and FN Herstal of Belgium. Much of these companies' production is carried out under licence in other countries, produced for the armed forces of that country and also for export (see Heckler & Koch and FN Herstal sections, pages 21 and 19 respectively).

DSEi

The table indicates in bold the companies that will be at DSEi 2003. However, there will be many other small arms producers exhibiting including: Arsenal Co. and Arcus Co. from Bulgaria; Turkey's MKEK; South Africa's Denel; Pakistan Ordnance Factory; and Austria's Steyr Mannlicher. BAE Systems subsidiary RO Defence makes ammunition as does Giat of France.

1 www.smallarmssurvey.org/Yearbook/ SAS%20press%20release%202003.pdf, accessed 22.08.03
2 Small Arms Survey 2001, Oxford University Press, 2001
3 Klare Michael, 'The Kalashnikov Age', Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, 1999, vol.55, No.1, pp.18-22 cited in www.bicc.de/weapons/gtz_studien/small_arms.pdf, accessed 8.08.03
4 Small Arms Survey 2001, Oxford University Press, 2001
5 www.smallarmssurvey.org/Yearbook/ yb2003_en_presskit_ch1.pdf, accessed 22.08.03
6 www.smallarmssurvey.org/Yearbook/ yb2003_en_presskit_ch1.pdf, accessed 21.08.03