The UN - Right Idea, Misguided Approach
cn | 26 June, 2006 14:52Today BBC News online had a story about a UN conference on small weapons where the participants claimed to be aiming to 'tackle the global spread of small arms.' A noble aim, yet perhaps an impotent approach. From the story:
The UN secretary-general has spoken of the "mass destruction" caused by small weapons, at a conference looking at ways to restrict their use.
Kofi Annan said the proliferation of light weapons such as machine guns had spawned a "culture of violence".
He was speaking at a UN conference in New York which is considering ways to tackle the global spread of small arms.
Anti-gun campaigners presented him with a petition calling for tighter controls on the trade in such weapons.
It's all well and good to want to restrict the use and availability of weapons in general, but when one considers the billions of dollars spent in failing attempts to suppress 'illegal' distribution of weapons compared to the pittance spent on figuring out why it is so important for so many people to have guns and kill people and shifting the beliefs of world civilization in general to a less violent place, one must wonder what the real intent is of those attending such conferences, seminars, etc. If people want guns and guns still exist, they will find a way to get guns...or knives or bombs or clubs or sticks or arrows or whatever they can get their hands on to do the deeds they wish to do. If the people don't change, the problem doesn't change.
The article closes with a peach of a quote from the U.S. ambassador:
"We don't see any need for treaties or agreements coming out of this," he said.
Great...so why then did the conference take place? And how much did we spend in NYC to put on this conference? And how will we know that anything actually happened there? Food for thought, I suppose...
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