By Lucas Musetti, Ayub Elmi, Peter Gandal, Amelia Kirshbaum, and Joshua Kirshbaum
This week Nonviolence International-NY is participating in PrepCom2018, one of the important international conferences on small arms, light weapons (SALW) disarmament that happens at the United Nations. This one occurs every 4 years and is about upgrading the most important of international disarmament instruments - the UN Program of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, which most other international and regional instruments have grown out of.
In the United States, SALW disarmament continues to be very controversial. For some, it is about our fundamental constitutional right to bear arms. Others believe that the amendment should be modified according to the times and believe that we no longer have the same needs for guns as the founding fathers did, and thus there is a need for a shift in the conversation about gun rights in the United States, and to have more discussions with lawmakers who are pro-guns.