The following was obtained from "The No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade", G. Burrows, 2002: "Forecast International, a commercial market-analysis company, makes the following estimates about the proliferation of small arms manufacture in their "Ordnance and Munitions Forecast", published in October 2000: - More than 43 million military-style small arms of all types were produced outside the US, between 1980 and 1999. - More than 1.4 million military small-arms of all types were produced for the US armed forces between 1970 and 1999. - 37,000 small arms were produced for the US armed forces during 2000. According to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco (BAFT), around 4.37 million firearms are produced in the US every year. According to "Small Arms Survey 2001", it is estimated that at least 347 million small arms were produced worldwide between 1945 and 2000." "Taking the definition of the UN panel of government experts on small arms, the category includes all of the following military, police, and domestic weapons: revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, sub-machine guns and light machine guns, heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, recoilless rifles, portable launchers of anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems, and mortars of less than 100mm calibre." "They are so prolific because they are small and relatively cheap, easy to pass on, smuggle, hide, steal, capture from an enemy, or buy over the counter. But they are also ubiquitous because of the sheer numbers they are produced in: millions of them, every day, all over the world. It is a myth that the trade in small arms is only one of recycling second- and third-hand weapons. New production merely creates more second- and third-hand guns. In 1999, 45 different countries reported to the UN that firearms, components, and ammunition were legally produced in their territories for domestic or export markets. Many more countries didn't respond to the requests for information." - The global trade in small arms has a devastating impact on human life and political stability around the globe. It is a plague on the human race; one of our own making. -