Small arms
As small arms are weapons referred, which can be carried by one person and operated. The term originated in the early 21st century from the poor literal translation of the English term small arms ( dt. Small arms ).
These include hand weapons such as handguns ( pistol / revolver ) or long weapons ( rifle , carbine , assault rifle , submachine gun , shotgun , light machine gun ), but also explosives used for military purposes such as hand grenades or mines .
Mortars , portable rocket launchers , medium and heavy machine guns as 'light weapons' ( Engl. Light weapons ), respectively. Several people are required to operate them. Small arms and light weapons together are referred to as SALW in English .
The term small arms is often used in connection with the illicit proliferation and illegal arms trade , permits for license productions and civil and guerrilla wars as well as low intensity conflicts, especially in the third world . The Geneva-based government project Small Arms Survey estimates that over two-thirds of all small arms are in the hands of private individuals. Of the 650 million privately owned small arms, over 250 million are in the United States of America. In addition, the majority of small arms are said to be handguns. The following graphic gives an overview of the 10 countries with the highest density of small arms worldwide:
Non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International , Oxfam and IANSA estimate that 1,000 people die every day from gunshot wounds from small arms. Kofi Annan , the former Secretary-General of the United Nations , said in October 2000 on the occasion of his "We the Peoples" millennium speech on the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms: 'The blood toll caused by small arms eclipses that of all other weapon systems [...]. With regard to the carnage they cause, small arms can very well be described as means of mass destruction ' ( ' The death toll from small arms dwarfs that of all other weapon systems [...]. In terms of the carnage they cause, small arms could well be described as weapons of mass destruction. ′ ). With the Control Arms campaign , Amnesty International advocates a global arms trade agreement. This is to prevent the proliferation of military weapons, including handguns, to civilians .
Labeling requirement
Due to their dangerousness and better traceability, there are separate legal regulations for small arms in Germany , whereby the labeling regulations for export weapons differ considerably from those for weapons that remain in Germany (for the police, sport shooters, etc.).
The labeling requirement for small arms that remain in Germany is regulated in Section 24 of the Weapons Act.
Small arms intended for the export market must be labeled in accordance with Section 13 of the Second Ordinance Implementing the Act on the Control of War Weapons .
The less stringent labeling regulations for export weapons mean that small arms are smuggled into dictatorships by redeclaring the serial numbers without the deliveries being traceable. Inadequate legislation may lead to a. also criticized by German customs .
The UN resolution (a60-88), which calls for a tightening of the labeling for export weapons, has not been implemented in Germany since 2005.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Small Arms Survey: Civilians . Small Arms Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ Small Arms Survey Report 2009: Authorized Small Arms Transfers; Page 40, PDF file (2.53 MB) . Small Arms Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ↑ Small Arms Survey Report 2010 (overview page) . Small Arms Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ↑ Killer Facts . www.controlarms.org. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ↑ We the peoples: the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century (Report of the Secretary-General), page 38, paragraph 238, PDF (PDF; 878 kB) United Nations - General Assembly. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ↑ "Rifles for dictators - lax war weapons law enables illegal trade" - contribution of the program "Kontraste" (rbb) from July 19, 2012. Accessed on November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ UN resolution a60-88 . U.N. Retrieved November 11, 2018.