The term small arms is used to describe any weapon that a person can easily transport and fire. It generally describes small caliber personal weapons such as pistols and rifles, but is also used to include grenades and other man portable weapons like mortars and machine guns.
Issues of gun ownership and control in the United States of America are dealt with under gun control and gun politics.
Various international organizations (including Oxfam GB, Amnesty International and the United Nations) and domestic groups (eg the Small Arms Working Group]] in the US) have committed themselves to limiting the trade in, and proliferation of small arms around the world. They claim that roughly 500,000 people are killed each year by the use of small arms, and that there are over 600 million of such arms in circulation.
Note that it is the assault rifles, mortars and machine guns that pose the main problem because of their military nature.
"The proliferation of small arms, and munitions and explosives has also aggravated the violence associated with terrorism and organized crime. Even in societies not beset by civil war, the easy availability of small arms has in many cases contributed to violence and political instability. These, in turn, have damaged development prospects and imperiled human security in every way." - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General
The problem of small arms proliferation is mainly due to massive exports of these by the former Soviet Union (AK-47), China (AK-47), Germany (H&K G3), Belgium (FN-FAL) and Brazil (FN-FAL). In many cases these small arms were exported in order to support movements that had similar ideologic views. Unfortunately these small arms have survived many conflicts and many are now in the hands of arms dealers, which move them between conflict areas as needed.
They are essential for hunting and shooting competitions. They are also essential for self defense.
See also: gun