Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the specter of mobile chemical labs, dirty nuclear bombs, anthrax spores, sarin gas, and other weapons of mass murder has fueled fearful imaginations and launched countless anti-terrorism initiatives. While these fears are real, people throughout the world would be surprised to learn that the most deadly weapon of all is still legal, accessible and dirt cheap.

The AK-47, the M-16 and other so-called "small arms" are responsible for half a million deaths each year. About 300,000 people- mostly civilians- are killed in wars, coups d'*tat and other armed conflicts annually as the victims of small arms. Another 200,000 people are killed in homicides, suicides, unintentional shootings and shootings by police. Another 1.5 million are wounded. If we take into account their cumulative impact, small arms are truly weapons of mass destruction.

They are also cheap, portable and easily concealed, making them ideal terrorist weapons. While small arms are deadly and dangerous, they are also profitable, which erects significant barriers to their control.

n a recent article in the New York Times, Wright notes that at the time of the coalition invasion, "Iraq had one of the largest conventional arms stockpiles in the world.includ[ing] three million tons of bombs and bullets; millions of AK-47's and other rifles, rocket launchers and mortar tubes; and thousands of more sophisticated arms like ground-to-air missiles.. As war approached, Iraqi commanders ordered these mountains of munitions to be dispersed across the country in thousands of small caches."

If the platoon was stunned by the amount of weaponry they discovered; they were flabbergasted when ordered not to stop to destroy the stockpiles in the rush to Baghdad. As a result of these orders, by the time the Marines reached the capital, Iraqis "bent on killing Americans" had taken up the weapons they had passed along the way. Their experience is just one example of the dangers that result as the U.S. and other major powers continue to overlook the big problem of small arms.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0709-01.htm