Women, Men, and Gun Violence: Options for action

The statistics are damning. There are currently an estimated 640 million small arms and light weapons in circulation – from handguns and assault rifles to shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. The majority of this arsenal, or about 60%, is in the hands of civilians. A further seven to eight million new weapons are added to the global stockpile every year, as well as at least 10 billion units of ammunition. Guns are light, cheap, durable, easy to conceal and easy to operate, and therefore pose a pernicious threat to human security in countries at war and at peace alike.While landmines kill or maim between 15 and 20,000 people a year,during the same time the use and misuse of small arms and light weapons take between 200,000 and 270,000 lives in countries ‘at peace’ alone through homicide and suicide – up to five times more, depending on estimates, than die directly from gunfire in situations of war. The number of war wounded and disabled ranges anywhere from two to thirteen times the number killed. The economic cost of this violence is staggering, and it is now well recognised that armed insecurity poses a grave threat to sustainable development. Shots do not even need to be fired for firearms to be used to threaten, coerce, intimidate and abuse, including by committing sexual violence at gunpoint. The trauma and pain guns leave in their wake take years to overcome, if at all.