Small Arms and its Implications for US Security Policy
By Mark Joyce
6 Jul 2007
The United States has in recent weeks been strongly criticized by its southern neighbours for exacerbating violence in the region through a failure to impose more restrictive firearms legislation. Firearms purchased legally in the US are increasingly finding their way to illegal armed groups in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, where they are fuelling mounting violence and instability.
The US, for most of the post-9/11 period has sought to portray itself as an exporter of stability to the world’s most troubled regions, while it has in its own backyard become a major part of the problem rather than the solution. But while the US policy has tended to focus on the illicit trade in small arms, it has failed to acknowledge the extent to which guns obtained legally on the US domestic market have entered into illegal circulation and fuelled violence and instability, especially in neighbouring countries. It is this issue that has driven the recent criticisms, which have sought to encourage the US to view itself more as an exporter of insecurity to its southern neighbours than a benevolent external actor in other countries’ problems.
6 Jul 2007
The United States has in recent weeks been strongly criticized by its southern neighbours for exacerbating violence in the region through a failure to impose more restrictive firearms legislation. Firearms purchased legally in the US are increasingly finding their way to illegal armed groups in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, where they are fuelling mounting violence and instability.
The US, for most of the post-9/11 period has sought to portray itself as an exporter of stability to the world’s most troubled regions, while it has in its own backyard become a major part of the problem rather than the solution. But while the US policy has tended to focus on the illicit trade in small arms, it has failed to acknowledge the extent to which guns obtained legally on the US domestic market have entered into illegal circulation and fuelled violence and instability, especially in neighbouring countries. It is this issue that has driven the recent criticisms, which have sought to encourage the US to view itself more as an exporter of insecurity to its southern neighbours than a benevolent external actor in other countries’ problems.
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