Beyond Bullets at the United Nations |

This week, Beyond Bullets has been in attendance at the 4th Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms and Light Weapons, which is taking place at the United Nations. We've attended meetings on gender mainstreaming in the prevention of small arms trafficking, the role of youth in the prevention and combating of weapons trafficking, and the presentation of the Small Arms Survey Yearbook 2010, which is an annual, comprehensive publication about small arms issues around the world. This year's survey is on Gangs, Groups and Guns.

After spending the past two years learning about how guns and gun violence affect people in our own country, we are now getting a global perspective on this issue. We have been sitting at tables with people from Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The fact that communities in so many diverse nations are deeply impacted by gun violence is distressing, but these meetings also give a sense of great hope among the participants, who have come together to envision a world without these destructive weapons.

If only we could replace international gun manufacturing (much of which is housed in the United States) with a new industry that's equally as lucrative, we just might be in the business of world peace!