MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
MISSING PIECES - Inter-Parliamentary Union
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THEME 5<br />
the new legislation will be enforced. As an incentive, there is usually a ‘no<br />
questions asked’ policy and participants are offered financial compensation<br />
for their guns.<br />
After I purchased the gun it seemed pointless having it and I needed<br />
somewhere to get rid of it. That’s why a gun amnesty would have been<br />
good for me.<br />
—Asher D of rap group So Solid Crew, previously convicted for gun possession 18<br />
It is difficult to draw any conclusions on the direct impact that amnesty<br />
programmes have had on gun violence, whether criminal, self-directed or<br />
between intimate partners. This is primarily because it is hard to isolate the<br />
impact of one measure from other variables affecting gun violence (for<br />
example, youth employment schemes, city planning schemes, or restrictions<br />
on alcohol sales). The incidence of firearm-related deaths in countries<br />
like Australia and the UK is also low relative to that of many other<br />
countries, and even a small change can have a strong impact on statistics.<br />
The trends in data so far are not uniform. However, the Australian example<br />
does indicate that the introduction of stricter gun laws, combined with<br />
the removal of a portion of civilian-held weapons from circulation, have<br />
led to a significant decrease in firearm-related deaths. 19<br />
The Brazilian process also suggests that tighter gun controls combined<br />
with a reduction in weapons availability can help reduce rates of firearmrelated<br />
deaths and injuries. Following the adoption of the Disarmament<br />
BOX 16 NO MONETARY INCENTIVES TO SURRENDER GUNS IN ARGENTINA<br />
In December 2006 the Argentinean Senate decided to pass into law a proposal<br />
to disarm civilians. The programme declares a “national emergency”<br />
in terms of possession, manufacturing and trade in firearms, munitions<br />
and explosives. It provides for a gun collection programme, a ban on the<br />
import, manufacture and sale of replica guns, a national inventory of all<br />
guns (including those held by state agencies), a requirement that the military<br />
and police report to the parliament all lost or stolen guns, and the<br />
creation of both a national commission on small arms and a firearms policy<br />
consultative council, which will include experts from civil society.<br />
The amnesty and collection programme will last for an initial period of<br />
six months and, unlike the buy-back schemes in Australia and Brazil, will not<br />
allow monetary incentives for the surrender of weapons. The results of this<br />
model of weapons collection are yet to be assessed, but it is hoped they<br />
will contribute to the growing body of evidence with regard to the effects<br />
of amnesty programmes and legal reform.<br />
105