Preventing Crimes and Violent Deaths Involving Small Arms and Light Weapons (2017)

Armed violence and gun crime take many forms but one thing is clear – they are mostly committed with weapons: small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their corresponding ammunition, as well as homemade explosives and sharp instruments turned into weapons. Most countries are affected in some way by violence with small arms and light weapons, particularly firearms violence. This paper outlines the scale and types of crime and violence perpetrated with SALW as presently known, and calls for measures to be developed to improve relevant data and to more fully implement the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, agreed in 2001.