Often, at least one link in this 'chain' will be legitimate. Effective controls on firearms therefore necessitate a dual track approach which addresses both licit and illicit transfers. It is not enough for delegates here today to say that the export policy governing legal transfers cannot be addressed through the mandate of the Crime Commission. Every effort should be made to connect this initiative to other aspects of the firearms proliferation problem. The breakdown of national boundaries has ended the distinction between conflict and crime.
Firearms are the weapon of choice for combatants and criminals alike.
Cheap, durable and robust, with few moving parts and little need for spares, they can assembled and transported by a child a young as ten. Once a conflict ends, it is often extremely difficult for authorities to regain control of weapons that have flooded the country. For former combatants with few marketable skills, weapons become a form of currency. In order to survive, they may use them for banditry or trade them in the civilian market for other goods. Weapons attained and used for violence in armed conflict are now traded easily across borders and put to criminal use.