Arms Trafficking

Arms trafficking, also known as gunrunning is the illegal transporting of firearms from one state, or country to another. Organized crime groups buy and sell weapons such as heavy machine guns, hand-held guns, recilles rifles and grenades to name a few to other groups for large profits. Arms’ trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business. 87% of firearms recovered from Mexico were traced back to the US over the last five years and is said to be responsible for fueling Mexico’s drug violence according to the ATF (Government). Arms’ trafficking has become a growing problem for law enforcement as the lack of background checks have allowed assault weapons to end up in the hands of criminals. Illicit trading and smuggling guns is a global security threat. The stability of the countries receiving these weapons along with the US is a major concern. Colombia’s left-wing guerrillas, right wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs are known for smuggling tens of millions dangerous weapons across their border (Erlich). Weapons that have been smuggled into other countries are used by the Taliban and Al Qaeda on Americans
Although the government trades and purchases weapons legally, it becomes a problem when more money is spent on weapons than on resources for the communities. According to an article the government spends more on military expenditure then it does on communications infrastructure, health and social development combined. “The 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China), together with Germany and Italy account for around 85% of the arms sold between 2002 and 2009 “ (Shah, 2011).

Erlich, R. (n.d.). Blood, Drugs, and Guns Arms Trafficking Fuels Chaos. Retrieved 6 28, 2012, from The Stanley Foundation: http://vps.stanleyfoundation.org/initiatives/un21/resources/securitycheck/illegal_arms.php

Government, U. (n.d.). Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and