A 27-year old man in Japan has been arrested for possession of 3D-printed guns, including two which are functional. While he apparently did not have any live ammunition for the weapons, his possession of them was still deemed a violation of Japan’s strict gun-control laws. This is apparently the first arrest for possession of 3D-printed […]

Nearly half a million people were murdered worldwide in 2012, according to a survey just released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Global Study on Homicide 2013, released on April 10, is a fascinating worldwide picture of murders. Notably, the data here refers to intentional unlawful killings outside of conflict […]

On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik took a boat to the small island of Utøya on a Norwegian lake not far from Oslo. Dressed as a police officer, he claimed to be checking on the safety of a Labour party youth camp after an explosion in downtown Oslo hours earlier. The campers did not […]

In Skyfall, the latest James Bond film, the world’s most famous secret agent is presented with his new equipment by ‘Q’, his sarcastic MI6 handler. Q gives Bond a slim metal case containing the latest version of Bond’s iconic Walther PP handgun. This version has a twist – a “subdermal scanner” which has been coded to […]

It is well established that the United States is the source of many of the weapons used by Mexican drug trafficking groups. But the proliferation of American weaponry deeper into Latin America has not received the same kind of attention. Nevertheless, American weapons – particularly larger, more powerful small arms – have become common amongst […]

The outstanding success of Argentina’s National Programme for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms was today recognised with a Silver Future Policy Award by the World Future Council. The World Future Council cites the Asociación Para Politicas Publicas (APP), a long term partner of AOAV in Argentina and member of SEHLAC, as the key civil society organisation that […]

Britain has a new law enforcement agency. The new National Crime Agency (NCA), which has drawn numerous comparisons to the FBI, is broadly similar to the former Serious Organised Crime Agency. It shares many of its predecessor’s priorities in terms of dealing with national-level organised crime issues, such as human trafficking, large-scale drug smuggling and […]

This week it was reported that an American public school, Clarksville High School in Arkansas, is to permit 20 of its teachers, administrators and other school employees to carry concealed weapons at school. Action on Armed Violence criticises this move as unnecessary and is horrified that teachers are increasing being allowed to carry loaded weapons […]

Last year saw a series of brutal mass shootings in affluent white suburbs like Aurora, Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut. The same year marked a growing divide in violence in urban centers that continue to suffer the majority of fatal gun violence. At the same time that homicides soared in Chicago and Detroit in 2012, they reached decades-long or near-record lows in New […]