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Coalition Against Gun Violence |
Originally appeared in Newsletter Vol. x,
No. y, December 1999
If you have been watching "60 Minutes" on PBS, you will be familiar with the story of Florin Krasniqi, a naturalized American citizen originally from Kosovo. Florin is the owner of a successful roofing business in Brooklyn, NY. When his cousin was killed by the Serbs in 1997, he felt a need to help his people. Florin Krasniqi's story depicts how the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLO) waged war against Serb forces in the late 1990s using powerful weapons that were manufactured and bought legally in the United States, then shipped by various methods to waiting bands of fighters.
Florin describes how he is able to purchase any type of firearm, including small arms, light weapons and all sorts of materiel needed in war. He raised $30 million from Albanian-Americans to outfit the KLO. Over several years, Florin has shipped large quantities of weapons and materiel out of this country to Kosovo. He describes how guns traveled from US factories and gun fairs through airports and onto planes, across the Atlantic, to be smuggled over borders and put into action in guerilla battles.
On TV he is shown purchasing a 50-caliber rifle, saying that all you need is a credit card and a clean record and you can buy any type of weapon and as many as you want.
Though Florin clearly benefited from lax US gun laws, he agreed to be filmed in a documentary, "The Brooklyn Connection" by Dutch filmmaker, Klaartje Quirijns, in order to expose them. Florin thinks gun laws are ridiculous in this country. He said, "If I can do it, who else can do it? Terrorists can buy them, too."
"I am fascinated by the complexity of his character," filmmaker Quirijns said, "Is he a freedom fighter or a terrorist? He's charming and very intelligent. On the other hand, he's ruthless when it comes to liberating Kosovo." Florin predicts war will break out again in one and a half years, so he continues to smuggle weapons.
The questions of how many of these weapons are available for legal purchase by civilians in the US is difficult to answer because almost none of these weapons are absolutely prohibited from civilian purchase. The jurisdiction for weapons purchasing is left to states, and in many cases state law can supersede federal law.
The US is the largest arms exporter in the world. The legal trade in SA/LW is worth about $4 billion and the illegal trade about $1 billion. The largest exporters are the US, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Brazil and China. Most of the big sales are state-to-state transfers, or commercial companies selling to nation-states.
Definition: Small arms (SA) are guns like revolvers, pistols, rifles and assault weapons. Light weapons (LW) are like heavy machine guns, grenade launchers and anti-aircraft missiles. SA/LW are weapons you can carry by yourself or with another person, or that you can mount to a vehicle or load on a pack animal. They are one-to-two-person weapons.
However, a best-guess estimate puts the total of SA/LW at more than 639 million worldwide. Between 40 and 60 percent of those arms are illicit. Of the 49 major conflicts fought during the 1990s, small arms were the weapons of choice in 46 of them. Of the four million war-related deaths during that decade, 90 percent were civilians and 80 percent of those were women and children. Tens of millions more people have lost their livelihoods, homes and families because of the pervasive and indiscriminate use of these weapons.
Tragically, because small arms are so easy to use and maintain, these weapons have made the use of child soldiers more practical and lethal, hence increasing their attractiveness as a military option. Child soldiers are often used to commit crimes against their own communities – often their own families – thus weakening the social fabric of a community.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the need to constrain small arms proliferation was "one of the key challenges in preventing conflict in the next century." The international community has come to realize that the illicit trafficking in SA/LW is a global threat to peace and security. International conferences have been held to open the eyes of public opinion to raise the profile and awareness of the scourge of small arms.
Many of these weapons are available very easily from a wide variety of sources. How the guns are trafficked depends on the purpose, destination and quantity. Straw purchasing is the common method of getting guns into Mexico or Canada from the US (for 'internal' conflicts in Mexico or Central America). Larger conflicts (Sierra Leone or Congo) involve major arms brokers mainly, but not always. US weapons have been found in violent conflicts and crimes worldwide, including weapons collected in Iraq.
Gauging the legal trade in US small arms is relatively easy. Most of the illicit trade is opaque and difficult to track. The US could help limit the proliferation of small arms by supporting the creation of legally binding international treaties on arms brokering, marking and tracing and arms export criteria.
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Copyright © 1999-2007 Coalition Against Gun Violence. All rights reserved.
A Project of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
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