Can small arms be used “legitimately”?
Whereas what is “legal” depends on applicable local, national and international laws governing small arms, what is “legitimate” is more difficult to determine, requiring in addition respect for principles of necessity, proportionality and accountability. The problem is that you can never guarantee the legitimate use of small arms. As long as small arms are widely available and cheap, they will be misused in ill-disciplined hands. Q: Which groups in particular are likely to misuse small arms? A: Small-arms misuse occurs wherever guns are – and they are everywhere, so the range of misuses and situations is wide. Gun violence occurs between individual civilians as well as collectives, such as insurgents and rebel factions, and by state agents such as the police or military. The Small Arms Survey, an independent research project based in Geneva, has found that there are more gun homicides committed by civilians (around 200,000 every year) than direct deaths in armed conflict (around 100,00
