DOES THE RIGHT TO ARMS IMPEDE OR PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?BY DAVID B. KOPEL, PAUL GALLANT & JOANNE D. EISEN
In July of 2001, the United Nations concluded
a Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light
Weapons (SALW) in All Its Aspects, designed to address
security and humanitarian threats posed by unlawful trade
in these weapons. The resultant Program of Action called
for a follow-up review conference to be held no later than
2006, and suggested eventually moving toward a treaty to
regulate the international trade of SALW. The United States
supported the goals of the Program of Action because, as
negotiated, they did not undermine American sovereignty
or rights enshrined in the Second Amendment. During the
conference, however, delegates from several nations had
sought to expand the scope of the Conference to include
restricting the private ownership of weapons, which has
raised concern that U.S. domestic rights could be threatened
in the future.
Small arms is a term of art used by the international
disarmament community. As used by some gun prohibitionists,
the term includes all firearms except heavy machine guns.
More narrowly, small arms refers only to military firearms.
Although prohibitionist claims are frequently stated in
unequivocal terms, careful researchers acknowledge that the
connection between arms and development is unclear.
Read the article at:
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/Foreign/Development.pdf.
