LONDON, May 16 (UPI) -- The current proliferation of small arms represents a global epidemic that should be tackled as urgently as avian flu, according to a report released Tuesday.
The International Action Network on Small Arms urged the United Nations to bring the international arms trade under control, saying a failure to act now would lead to the deaths of 1.8 million people over the next five years and the injury of millions more.
The report said that with 640 million guns already in existence and eight million produced each year, there were enough weapons to equip every one-in-ten people on the planet. It noted that 59 percent of these were in the hands of civilians, adding that 1000 people were killed every day by small arms.
Rebecca Peters, IANSA director, said: "Guns kill, wound and disable around one million people a year. If 1,000 people a day were dying of avian flu you can be certain something would be done about it. This is an epidemic which demands immediate international action."
The report, which covers weapons ranging from handguns to rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-aircraft missiles, says that the source of the illicit arms market is the legal trade, often in a different country from the one where the weapons are used in violence.
Small arms are easy to transport across borders and difficult for governments to monitor, it says, calling for comprehensive global action to regulate the production, ownership and trade of such weapons.
Speaking ahead of the United Nations Small Arms Review in June, Peters urged governments to stand up for the world's best interests and deal with the "scourge" of guns.
"No excuses -- not national security, not local culture or custom, not economics, will justify a failure to act decisively," she said.
