Stopping the Destructive Spread of Small Arms

Rachel Stohl and E.J. Hogendoorn, Center for American Progress, March 2010.

This report on global small arms proliferation provides a useful review of past efforts to check the arms trade and a brief road map for future U.S. efforts. With case studies on Kenya, Mexico, and Somalia, the report finds the vicious cycle of regional instability and small arms trade to be a major obstacle for international development programs and global security. The authors point out that around two-thirds of the 875 million small arms around the world are in the hands of "nonstate actors and civilians," with the worldwide small arms trade exceeding $4 billion annually. After reviewing regional and …