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Small Arms Trafficking
MARKET VALUE OF SMALL ARMS TRAFFICKING The size of the illegal small arms trafficking market is estimated to be valued Two million people are believed to be involved in the gun trafficking industry.2 MARKET PRICES OF AK-47s AND OTHER WEAPONS Listed below is the price of a used AK-47 in selected countries.
Globally, up to 14 billion bullets are produced annually. Export data exists for only 17 percent of the bullets, leaving over 80 percent of bullets unaccounted for.4 Due to an increase in supply, the price of an AK-47 dropped from $250 to $75 in the Niger Delta over the past 18 months.5 Stephen Flynn, author of America the Vulnerable, explained the price of an AK-47 in the following manner: " weapons like the Ak-47 are so plentiful that they can be had for the price of a chicken in Uganda, the price of a goat in Kenya, and the price of a bag of maize in Mozambique or Angola." 6 Prices in Iraq In Iraq, the prices of small arms have increased since the U.S. invasion. According to a report by the New York Times, Kalashnikovs were priced between $75 to $150 in early 2003. By late 2006, the prices increased to the range of $210 to $650. In some areas of Iraq, the price has increased to $800, with compact Kalashnikovs favored by Osama bin Laden selling for as much as $2000.7 According to a report by Oxfam and quoted in the BBC, much of the ammunitions used in Iraq is purchased in the black market. The price of a bullet for an AK-47 costs between 15 and 45 cents.8 A rocker propelled grenade launcher is available in Iraq for $100, with grenades costing $50 each.9 Arms Supply There is an estimated 70 to 100 Million AK-47s in circulation worldwide,10 and The region of South Asia has become a large arms trading center due to the various disruptions in the area. Of the estimated 75 million firearms in the region, 63 million are believed to have been illegally trafficked into the region.12 In Iraq, the Center for Defense Information (CDI) has reported on the thriving black market that has existed throughout the U.S. occupation. In a December 2006 report, the CDI stated that " weapons originally supplied by the U.S. and its allies to the Iraqi police have been showing up on the streets and on the black market, likely diverted by theft, loss, or by officers who kept their weapons after quitting the police force" .13 In Mexico, guns purchased in the United States are smuggled south of the border by drug traffickers. According to the Mexican Department of National Defense, 10,579 guns were seized in Mexico that originated from the United States. This figure is up from the 3,214 guns that were seized in 2002.14 Worldwide, an estimated one million small arms are either lost or stolen each year and often end up for sale in the black market. 15 In the United States alone, half a million weapons are lost from small-scale burglary.16 UN experts believe that 60 percent of illegal small arms started out as legal transfers.17
Sources: 1. Moises Naim, " Broken Borders," Newsweek International, October 24, 2005, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9711920/site/newsweek (accessed: October 18, 2006) 2. " Bangladesh turned into arms smuggling route," The Daily Star (Bangladesh), May 30, 2006, http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/05/30/d6053001107.htm (accessed: May 31, 2006). 3. William Hartung and Rachel Stohl, " Hired Guns" , Foreign Policy, May/June 2004. 4. " Bullets 'flooding Baghdad market'," BBC News, June 15, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5081360.stm (accessed: June 15, 2006). 5. Douglas Farah, " The Merchant of death," Foreign Policy, November/December 2006, Sidebox: Arms Around 6. Stephen Flynn, America the Vulnerable, (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), pg. 4. 7. C.J. Chivers, " Black-Market Weapon Prices Surge in Iraq Chaos," New York Times, December 10, 2006. 8. " Bullets 'flooding Baghdad market'," BBC News. 9. Ahmed Rasheed and Ross Colvin, " Iraqi police selling weapons on black market," Reuters, February 5, 2007, http://www.reuters.com/ . 10. William Hartung and Rachel Stohl, " Hired Guns" . 11. Rachel Stohl, " The Tangled Web of Illicit Arms Trafficking," Center for American Progress, October 14, 2004, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/10/b217737.html (accessed: November 15, 2006). 12. The Daily Star. 13. Rhea Myerscough and Rachel Stohl, " Uncontrolled Small Arms Perpetuate Insecurity in Iraq," Center for Defense Information, December 6, 2006, http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID= 14. Chris Hawley, " Bush broaches U.S. gun smuggling," Arizona Republic, March 15, 2007, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0315bushmex-guns0315.html (accessed: March 19, 2007). 15. Stohl. " The Tangled Web of Illicit Arms Trafficking" . 16. Stohl. " The Tangled Web of Illicit Arms Trafficking" . 17. Larry Kahaner, AK-47: The Weapon That Changed The Face Of War, (New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2007), pg. 177.
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