Black market (illegal) transfers violate either national or international law and take place without official government authorization.
The exporters' list was led by the U.S., followed by Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Russia, South Korea, Belgium, China, Turkey, Spain and the Czech Republic.
[8] The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was held in New York City from 9–20 July 2001 as decided in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 54/54 V. Preceded by three preparatory committee sessions, the two-week Conference resulted in the adoption of the 'Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.
[10] According to a 2012 Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution publication, "the relative importance of diversion or misuse of officially authorised transfers, compared to international entirely illegal black market trafficking has been thoroughly confirmed.
"[11] The authors go on to elaborate that..."For most developing or fragile states, a combination of weak domestic regulation of authorised firearms possession with theft, loss or corrupt sale from official holdings tends to be a bigger source of weapons concern than illicit trafficking across borders.
The 2008 Biennial Meeting of States resulted in the adoption, by vote,[16] of an Outcome Document[17] focusing on three main issues: international assistance, cooperation and capacity-building; stockpile management and surplus disposal; and illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons.
The Fourth Biennial Meeting in 2010 was able to adopt, for the first time by consensus, a substantive Outcome Document which addresses the issue of illicit trade across borders.
Fortunately, to address these issues, the Small Arms Survey's contributors have devised a transparency barometer allowing them to consider each country's cooperation and credibility on shared information.
[22] According to the 2007 edition of the Small Arms Survey, there are at least 639 million firearms in the world, although the actual total is almost certainly considerably higher.
Non-governmental organisations such as IANSA argue that the prevalence of small arms contributes to the cycle of violence between governments and individuals.
The JPFO asserts that confiscation of private firearms is a necessary but not sufficient condition for tyranny, and draws parallels between contemporary efforts to register and confiscate guns and the actions of the National Socialist German Workers Party during the lead up to the Second World War (see: Nazi gun control argument).
[30][31] Similarly, gun ownership is widely held by many in Pakistan to be a necessary protection against crime[32] as well as a way through which citizens can participate in law enforcement.
[33] Stephen Halbrook, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and an author and lawyer known for his litigation on behalf of the National Rifle Association,[34][35] proposed that disarming citizens leaves them defenseless against totalitarian governments (such as Jews in Nazi Germany).
Reports from arms analysts Matt Schroeder and Guy Lamb suggest that the country Ghana has the potential to yield 200,000 new weapons every year.