Note: For all the non-gunnys out there. Since 1968, not one firearm
made in or imported into the U.S. does not have the identifying
information stamped or engraved on it, as have most centerfire arms
for well over one hundred years. Before 1968, it was mostly what we
called "barn guns", cheap but functional single shot rifles and shot
guns, and .22 rimfire rifles that were not given serial numbers, but
even those did have make, model and caliber/gauge.
BTW the trace count has gone down from 90% to now 70%. Have to
wonder how many courtesy of fast & furious? Not to mention
"leakage" from various governments. Like the thousands of grenades.
posted: 10/24/2011 14:33 By: Agencies
USA will seek to mark 25,000 firearms in the hemisphere
The program, funded by the U.S., includes a permanent marking
identifying firearms with unique and identifiable information such as
serial number, manufacturer or importer, model and size.
WASHINGTON (AP)
http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Internacional/
24102011/549972.aspx
Obama administration seeks to mark at least 25,000 firearms in the
hemisphere, as part of a regional program to combat illegal arms
trafficking, today announced the Department of State.
So far 16 countries-Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Uruguay, Paraguay, Saint
Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and
Trinidad and Tobago, have signed coordinated cooperation agreement by
Organization of American States (OAS).
The program, funded by the U.S., includes a permanent marking
identifying firearms with unique and identifiable information such as
serial number, manufacturer or importer, model and size.
Trademarks help the police to trace guns when they appear at crime
scenes.
''The marking of weapons is a very effective tool to combat arms
trafficking in the hemisphere,''said dependency.
''The gun registration program seeks to strengthen the national
capacity of participating governments. United States, which have
separate program tracking weapons to Mexico, expects up to 30
countries in the region to join the initiative.
A legislative report prepared in June found that up to 70 percent of
guns found at crime scenes in Mexico and sent for tracing, came from
U.S. gun shops.
Note: Have to wonder if a NGO with lots of cash and familiarity with
flight routes to W. Africa might be able to pick up some of these?
No, never happen.
Libya Arms Threaten to Infiltrate Africa Conflicts
By TIM WITCHER, Agence France-Presse
Published: 21 Oct 2011 12:37
U.N.ITED NATIONS - Moammar Gadhafi's arms stockpiles could remain a
threat long after his death, as some are feared to have been sent to
Darfur rebels, al-Qaida in North Africa and other militants further
afield.
There is "very serious concern" that weapons, ranging from shoulder-
fired missiles to machine guns and ammunition, may have crossed
Libya's borders into neighboring countries, U.N. envoy to Libya Ian
Martin said.
Assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns were all
taken from Gadhafi armories and supply depots by the rebels who
ousted him. Much has already passed across Libya's porous borders,
diplomats and experts say.
One western intelligence report has spoken of truckloads of guns
passing through Sudan's war-stricken Darfur region en route to groups
in the restive South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
"We cannot exclude the possibility that some weapons have crossed
into Darfur from Libya," Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudan's U.N.
envoy, told AFP.
Other African states have expressed similar concerns.
"What is sure is that the arms have gone into Chad, Mali and Niger,"
Mauritania's Foreign Minister Hamadi Ould Hamadi told AFP at the U.N.
headquarters in New York.
Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou held talks with the Libyan
National Transitional Council (NTC) leaders about the arms on the
sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last month.
Issoufou said the weapons are "spread across the Sahel-Sahara region
and could fall into the hands of terrorists."
Gadhafi's son Saadi, three generals and a former security services
chief are among 32 associates of the slain dictator who have taken
refuge in Niger.
Military chiefs and diplomats from Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco,
Tunisia and European nations France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain
held their own recent meeting on the arms, a diplomatic source told AFP.
The talks focused on how al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) could
get the Libya arms. European governments are worried that the machine
guns and missiles could be used on their own territory.
The weapons, particularly shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles
capable of bringing down aircraft, are a key concern of the U.N.
mission in Libya.
"We are doing our best to facilitate the securing of chemical weapons
stocks, of nuclear material, of MANPADs and of other ammunition,"
Martin said, using the military term for the missiles.
"Although the chemical weapons and nuclear material appear to be
secure, there is very serious concern that a lot of other weaponry
has gone missing and may have already crossed borders. So we are
trying to assist efforts to address that within Libya," the U.N.
envoy added.
Britain has expressed concern about reports of weapons entering
Sudan, and the United States is working with Libya's interim leaders
to secure the stockpiles.
"Since the beginning of the crisis, we have been actively engaged
with our allies and partners to support Libya's effort to secure all
conventional weapons stockpiles including recovery, control and
disposal of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles," White House
spokesman Jay Carney said recently.
U.S. contractor specialists are working with the new Libyan
leadership to secure weapons stockpiles, he added.
But there are estimates that Gadhafi's forces had up to 20,000 MANPAD
missiles.
"The fallout from these stockpiles could last for years in Africa,"
said one African diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity while
attending disarmament talks at the United Nations.
"There are far fewer arms in Somalia, but the Islamists are already
supplying groups in Yemen, Ethiopia and countries in the region. All
around Libya there are groups who will take advantage of Gadhafi's
downfall."
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