Who’s
affected by small arms? Civilians.The International Committee of the Red Cross has estimated that one out of every two casualties of “war” is a civilian caught in the crossfire. Many of these victims are women and children. Children. The light weight and small size of these weapons has made it possible for combatants to compel children to become soldiers. Dissidents, organizers, activists, journalists. Small arms are the principal tool of intimidation used by repressive police and military forces. Relief workers. Armed conflict often creates the crises that relief workers are called in to alleviate. In addition, aid workers are increasingly coming under fire. Peacekeepers. The U.N. has found that small arms pose the greatest threat to international troops seeking to establish or maintain peace. Businesspeople. In some parts of the world businesspeople are often kidnapped or extorted with these arms. More generally, the widespread diffusion of light weapons undermines economic development and contributes to the collapse of some economies. Tourists. Armed violence has a devastating impact on local tourism, which is the largest industry in the world today and the leading source of revenue for many countries. Police. Drug traffickers and other criminals increasingly out-gun civil police forces.
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Using high-powered assault
rifles, a right-wing death squad in Chiapas, Mexico massacres 21 women, 15 children and 9
men—22 Dec. 1997 Terrorists fire automatic rifles into a crowd of tourists in Luxor, Egypt, killing 62—17 Nov. 1997 Government-affiliated Serbian forces execute 127 men in the village of Izbica, in Kosovo—28 March 1999
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