Globalization and Small/Firearms: A public health perspective
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Development. Copyright © 1999 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (199912) 42:4; 40–44; 010919.
Poverty, Health and Sustainable Development
Globalization and Small/Firearms: A public health perspective WENDY CUKIER, ANTOINE CHAPDELAINE AND CINDY COLLINS1
ABSTRACT Violence has been identified as a pandemic to which no country is immune and represents a major threat to human security and rights. The authors look at the effects of arms availability on public health as well as on individual security, human rights and economic growth.
Firearms and small arms: a global problem It has been estimated that 3 million people have been killed with small arms in conflict over the past 10 years, about 300,000 per year (Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, 1996). What is less well known is that a comparable number, 200,000 per year, are killed with firearms in murder, suicide and ‘accidents’, and the death rate in industrialized countries – in ‘peace’ time – is also high (Cukier, 1998). From a health perspective, the constructions of ‘conflict’ and ‘crime’ are not particularly meaningful or useful: the focus is the protection of human life within the context of human rights and humanitarian law (Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy, 1998). The costs among vulnerable populations are particularly high in both industrialized and developing contexts. Women are seldom users of firearms but are often victims, both in the context of war and in domestic violence. In many developed countries, firearms are a leading cause of mortality among children and youth (Centre for Disease Control, 1997) and these groups represent a large percentage of the victims of conflict, both as combatants and casualties. Whether we are talking about conflict, domestic violence, ‘accidental’ discharge of a weapon, or the use of a small arm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, what all these events have in common is access to a small arm by a person who makes inappropriate use of it. The firearm is an important focal point in public health strategies for preventative action. Peace building, public health and crime prevention all have models for intervention which address the root causes of violence through social development and value building. Once crime, injury or conflict occur, there is recognition of
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Cukier et al.: Globalization and Small Firearms the need to intervene with policing, enforcement, and ‘treatment’. Controls on firearms and small arms are the intermediate step – the reduction of the opportunity for violence or conflict and the reduction of the severity of violent encounters by controlling the supply of firearms. While it is possible to kill with other means, firearms are particularly efficient and are more likely to cause death (Card, 1997: 37–45), severe injuries and multiple victims. In addition, firearms enable children who might otherwise lack the strength to kill more readily. The focus on controlling the ins
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