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The International Gun Control Movement: A Well-Funded Global Network
When gun control advocates hit roadblocks in the United States, they didn't abandon their goals-they simply changed battlefields. The international gun prohibition movement operates largely out of public view, focusing on influencing foreign ministry officials rather than engaging with voters. Unlike their American counterparts who must convince legislators and win elections, these international organizations maintain a low profile while wielding extensive resources and government connections.
At the center of this web sits the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), which coordinates over 500 member organizations across 100 countries. Founded in 1998 with just 33 NGOs, IANSA has grown into a formidable force with permanent staff and substantial funding from multiple governments including the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and Norway. Left-wing foundations like Ford, Rockefeller, Compton, Ploughshares, and MacArthur provide additional financial support.
The Small Arms Survey represents another dangerous player in this global network. Operating from the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, it publishes research that many governments consider authoritative on small arms issues. With substantial funding from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, its academic positioning gives it an air of objectivity that masks its anti-gun agenda.
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), another Geneva-based organization, employs twenty-one full-time staff members funded by multiple governments. In March 2005, it hosted a workshop titled "Regulating Civilian Ownership of Weapons" that deliberately excluded representatives of legal firearm owners despite their requests to participate. The workshop predictably concluded with recommendations for gun bans and registration requirements.
Rebecca Peters, who leads IANSA, represents the ideological core of this movement. Despite claiming her proposals are "moderate," she advocates banning all semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns from civilian ownership. Her vision would restrict gun ownership to single-shot hunting rifles with ranges under 100 meters. When asked what firearms Americans should own, Peters responded that Americans "shouldn't be exempt from rules that apply to the rest of the world" and should "have only guns suitable for purposes they can prove."
This international network has created regional initiatives worldwide, including efforts by the European Union, Economic Community of Western African States, the Nairobi Small Arms Protocol, Organization of American States, and the South African Development Community. Each has adopted protocols or moratoriums on firearms imports, manufacturing, or civilian ownership.
In response, the National Rifle Association and several other groups formed the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA) in 1997, which now includes over forty different associations from countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malta, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK. In 1999, WFSA became an official UN Non-Governmental Organization to counter this institutionalized international gun control movement.
