Resources on Global Inventories

Official Reports

There is no systematic international process for official national reporting of small arms stockpile and inventory data. Instead, reporting tends to be idiosyncratic, sometimes stressing domestic priorities, other times stockpile management activities abroad, sometimes presenting hard data, at other times estimates. Among the best quality official reports on stockpiles and inventories are:

Government of the United States, Department of the Treasury. N.d. (2002?). Firearms Commerce in the United States, 2001/2002.

United States General Accounting Office. 2003. "Firearms Controls: Federal Agencies Have Firearms Controls, but Could Strengthen Controls in Key Areas."

Sir Thomas Thorp. 1997. "Review of Firearms Control in New Zealand."

United Nations. 1997-1999. "United Nations International Study on Firearms Regulation." Collection of national reports on domestic private gun ownership, compiled by the United Nations.

Most recent national reports on small arms and light weapons to the United Nations Department of Disarmament Affairs by over 100 countries. The reports vary significantly but often discuss domestic gun law and regulations.
 
 
 

Public Polling and Surveys

The most comprehensive information on public gun inventories comes from polling and surveys. Unlike official registration data, which only cover legally owned firearms, polling potentially can reveal the approximate total of all guns in civil society. Because it relies on voluntary responses to very sensitive questions, though, even polling lacks great reliability. Polls on gun ownership have been conducted in only a few countries. Among the most prominent are:

GPC. 2001. "GPC Research Study On Firearms in Canada."

Middle East North Africa Action Network on Small Arms.
Studies on Gaza and Palestine, Lebanon and Sudan.

Statistics Lebanon. 2006. Annahar. April 3.

Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig. 1996. "Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use." Executive Summary.
 
 
 

Milestones in Empirical Small Arms Research

Much of the best quality data and estimates of small arms stockpiles and inventories emerged through dedicated field research. A growing catalogue of case studies testifies to the scale of global interest and the willingness of funders to support vital research. In many cases, researchers have found civil servants willing to release national stockpile and registration information. In other cases, field research has provided a basis for reliable estimation. Some of the best of these case studies and anthologies are listed below:


Small Arms Survey Publications

Karp, Aaron. 2007. Completing the Count: Civilian Firearms. In Small Arms Suvey 2007. Guns and the City. Cambrige

Karp, Aaron. 2006. Trickle and Torrent: State Stockpiles. In Small Arms Survey 2006: Unfinished Business. Oxford

Wille, Christina. 2006. How Many Weapons Are There in Cambodia?

Karp, Aaron. 2005. The Count Continues: Stockpiles. In Small Arms Survey 2005: Weapons at war. Oxford.

Alpers, Philipp. 2005. "Gun-running in Papua New Guinea: From Arrows to Assault Weapons in the Southern Highlands". Special Report No. 5.

LeBrun, Emile and Robert Muggah. 2005. "Silencing Guns: Local Perspectives on Small Arms and Armed Violence in Rural Pacific Islands Communities". Occasional Paper No. 15.

Karp, Aaron. 2004. From Chaos to Coherence? Global Firearm Stockpiles. In Small Arms Survey 2004: rights at risk. Oxford.

Faltas. Sami and Vera Chrobok. 2004. "Disposal of Surplus Small Arms: A Survey of Policies and Practices in OSCE Countries".

Grillot, Suzette R., Shelly O. Stoneman, Hans Risser, and Wolf-Christian Paes. 2004. "A Fragile Peace: Guns and Security in Post-conflict Macedonia". Special Report No. 4.

Karp, Aaron. 2003. Fewer Blanks: Global Firearm Stockpiles. In Small Arms Survey 2003: Development Denied. Oxford.

Khakee, Anna and Nicolas Florquin. 2003. "Kosovo and the Gun: A Baseline Assessment of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Kosovo". Special Report No. 3.

Alpers, Philip and Conor Twyford. 2003. "Small Arms in the Pacific". Occasional Paper No. 8.


Other Articles, Books and Journals

Holtom, Paul, Henry Smith, Bernardo Mariani, Simon Rynn, Larry Attree, Juliana Sokolová. 2005. "Turning the Page: Small Arms and Light Weapons in Albania". London: Saferworld.

Polyakov, Leonid. 2005. "Aging Stocks of Ammunition and SALW in Ukraine: Risks and Challenges". Bonn: Bonn International Conversion Centre.

Rynn, Simon, Philip Gounev, Thomas Jackson. 2005. "Taming the Arsenal: Small Arms and Light Weapons in Bulgaria". Belgrade: South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC).

Taylor, Zachary, Charlotte Phillips, Srdjan Bogosavljevic. 2005. "Living with the Legacy: Small Arms and Light Weapons Survey Republic of Serbia". London: Saferworld.

Gould, Chandré and Guy Lamb (Eds.) 2004. "Hide and Seek: Taking Account of Small Arms in Southern Africa". Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.

Gounev, Philip, Emil Tsenkov, Bernardo Mariani, Larry Attree. 2004. "Weapons Under Scrutiny: Implementing Arms Export Controls and Combating Small Arms Proliferation in Bulgaria". London: Saferworld.

Gorjanc, Milan. 2002. "Small Arms and Light Weapons' Possible Contribution to the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe". Unpublished Conference Paper. Ljubljana. 27 January.