WFSA Current News - January 2002

January 2, 2002

Another money-for-guns project
            Afghanistan is to be the site for another gun-buying project run by Japan , according to a release from the Kyodo News Service today.
            Instead of emphasizing the payment of cash for guns, the new approach is to supply community benefits in return for firearms handed in. Such benefits would include schools and hospitals, with each building project being paid for by a given number of surrendered guns.
            The underlying belief would appear to be that the presence of guns in the hands of civilians automatically detracts from the likelihood of stability in a region. However, gun purchase programs – where locals simply receive cash for guns they hand in – have proved to be very inefficient in the past. It is unlikely that the people ready to do harm with their guns will prove to be the ones willing to hand them in. A 1997 UN report estimated that there are 10 million guns in circulation in Afghanistan . The proposed program is said to be funded to the tune of 1.2 billion yen, and is going to offer to provide, for example, one school for each 200 surrendered small arms.