Guns

Summary of the doctoral dissertation
The main purpose of this work was to recognize the technological construction of individual elements of hand-held firearms. The analysis of literature sources and conducted material science researches allowed us to broaden our knowledge of the processes of their production in specific chronological sections.

The cannon or the naval gun was first installed on ships about seven hundred years ago. Since then, the gun as an instrument of naval warfare has undergone numerous evolutionary changes catalysed by various technological innovations, which resulted in the gun being the main armament in the naval arsenal until 1960s, when the missile displaced it. Improvements in gun technology gradually expanded the naval battle space arena from a few tens of yards in the age of the sail to around eighteen thousand yards with the introduction of big guns in the dreadnought era of WW I and subsequently to around forty thousand yards by the end of WW II.
The end of the Second World War saw the demise of the big guns and a paradigm shift from the big gunships concept to power projection by aircraft carriers and missile armed cruisers and destroyers.
This transformation of the naval gun over the centuries, from its humble beginnings as a small cannon before the age of the sail to the gigantic 18.1 inch gun on the Yamato, was accomplished due to the fascinating amalgamation of science, technology and human endeavour and makes a captivating study.

Some documents from the Friuli area, dating back to 1336, attesting the use of firearms in Venzone and the preparation of black powder, were quickly forgotten immediately after their publication, not finding feedback, even today, even in local publications.
Their rediscovery and contextualization, considered also the recent discoveries on the subject occurred for the neighboring Veneto area, confirms their importance for the history of the hoplology offering a more secure and documented datum of the famous quotation referring to the year 1331 reported in the Chronicle of Cividale («ballistabant cum sclopo versus terram») whose oldest specimens, as known, do not go beyond the XV century.

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Alcuni documenti di ambito friulano attestanti l’uso di armi da fuoco a Venzone e la preparazione della polvere nera risalenti al 1336, furono rapidamente dimenticati subito dopo la loro pubblicazione, non trovando, a tutt’oggi, riscontro neppure nelle pubblicazioni di argomento locale.
La loro riscoperta e contestualizzazione, alla luce anche dei risultati avuti dalle recenti indagini sull’argomento avvenute per la confinante area veneta, conferma la loro importanza per la storia dell’oplologia offrendo un dato più sicuro e documentato della famosa citazione riferita all’anno 1331 riportata nella Cronaca di Cividale («ballistabant cum sclopo versus terram») che, come noto da tempo, è giunta solamente in copie del secolo XV.

Forthcoming in Bernasco, W., Elffers, H. & van Gelder, J-L. (Eds.). Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision-Making.

This chapter describes the contradictory roles that weapons play in offender decision-making as mechanisms that can both increase the physical harm to a victim of violence but also reduce the need for physical harm in victims of robbery. As weapons serve simultaneously offensive and defensive purposes, the way in which offenders carry and use weapons is subject to a complex decision-making process. This process is presented and interpreted from a rational perspective, incorporating an offender’s calculation of potential benefits and costs as well as the uncertainty of a victim’s response. A rational analysis of weapon carrying and use is presented alongside research evidence suggesting that culture and availability are important influences on weapon of choice and weapon-related behaviour. The chapter concludes with a review of the effectiveness of weapons in reducing victim resistance and retaliation showing that weapon use is a high reward–high cost activity.

This short conference paper re-examines claims made in 1996 and 2003, by Canadian historian, the late Peter Hart, that in the early 1920s southern Ireland experienced the forced migration of tens of thousands of native Protestants.

Perpetrated by Roman Catholics and the IRA, this terrible event followed protracted sectarian violence Hart likened to “ethnic cleansing”.

Hart’s analysis rested on the premise, that between 1911 and 1926 “nearly all” of 100,000 decline in the southern Protestant population happened amid the revolutionary turmoil of 1921-24. Hart’s “mass exodus” foreshadowed the ethnic conflict thesis developed in his 1998 book, The IRA and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923 (Oxford). Recent scholarship casts doubt on the veracity of Hart’s analysis.

Statistical premises can radically reshape our historical memory. To better understand their powerful influence, Hart’s revision is compared with another premise in Michael A. Bellesiles’ revisionist monograph, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture (New York, 2000). In 1996 and 2000, Bellesiles advanced what later proved to be inaccurate statistics identifying unprecedented low levels of gun ownership in the early America Republic.

False statistical premises are most potent, and most invisible, where they articulate prejudices held by their host communities. This problem becomes acute, where relativists mobilise inaccurate historical information in contemporary political debates about, for example, gun control or republican terrorism.

If this epistemological problem is to be avoided, a greater awareness of false statistical premises is useful.

This paper focuses on the weapons of the Queen Anne, an English merchantman that was wrecked on the Zuiderzee near Kuinre (province of Overijssel) in the first quarter of the 18th century. The wreck was discovered in a now-reclaimed part of the Zuiderzee (the Noordoostpolder) in 2016 and excavated by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology of the University of Groningen during the summer of 2018. The wreck was well preserved and contained a large number of artefacts, including multiple weapons (flintlock pistols, swivel guns) and plenty of ammunition, including dozens of cannonballs. A substantial part of the ammunition was too large to be fired by swivel guns, meaning that multiple guns were missing from the wreck site. Based on the diameter and weight of the dozens of cannonballs, a reconstruction was
made of the full armament of the Queen Anne.

Beliefs once limited to the extremes of the North American gun culture have become mainstream, while the US Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and a spate of right-to-carry laws have contributed to the proliferation of guns in public life. These changes in political discourses, legislative agendas, and social practices are indicative of an emergent and pernicious form of subjectivity, which is here defined as self-defensive. Such subjectivity is characterized by a pathological identification with the right of self-defense, which undermines the social conditions of individual freedom and renders subjects unable to comprehend the function of abstract rights within an informal normative order. Practically speaking, this raced and gendered subjectivity relies on extra-legal relations of domination for its reproduction. The rapid expansion of gun rights and the recent loosening of restrictions on self-defensive violence are argued to be responses to a perceived threat to these identity-constituting relations, rather than to the threat of violent crime, which has long been on the decline.

The Chang Feng submachine gun (SMG), known in its latest iteration as the "CS/LS06", is in service with Chinese law enforcement and paramilitary personnel, as well as specialised units from other nations. The design is notable for its 50-round helical magazine and is often issued with a suppressor. It remains in service in China and elsewhere.

Project SAFTE, an international research project funded by the European Commission, has addressed this knowledge gap by improving the intelligence picture on illicit gun markets across the EU and throwing light on, in particular, on terrorist access to these markets. To map this phenomenon a group of experts on international firearms trafficking have undertaken several in-depth studies on the characteristics and dynamics of illicit firearms markets in different parts of Europe, the firearms acquisition patterns of different types of terrorists across the EU and the policy that has been developed to combat these security phenomena. In concreto, eight country study were conducted in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and the UK. For these country studies the different research teams, coordinated by the Flemish Peace Institute, used a variety of sources and research methodologies. Yet, given the lack of reliable and detailed official data in most EU member states, the research design of the different country teams  mainly relied on in-depth interviews with key national actors involved in the combat against illicit firearms trafficking or terrorism.

During the initial phase of the research, it became clear that the phenomena under consideration could not be adequately understood without a sounder understanding of what happened in Europe’s wider neighbourhood. Therefore, in addition to the eight country studies, an assessment was made of the illicit possession and proliferation of firearms in the wider EU neighbourhood in order to address the significant nexus between the EU’s internal and external security dimensions in terms of illicit firearms trafficking.

The research conducted within the framework of Project SAFTE resulted in two separate publications: a policy report and a comprehensive research volume. The policy report10 contains the systematic and comparative analysis of the main findings of the different country and neighbourhood studies, whereas this research volume contains all eight in-depth country studies and two neighbourhood studies as separate chapters. This allows the reader to gain profounder and more detailed insight into the research findings of Project SAFTE.

With this book we hope to have provided further groundwork to reinforce the effort to combat illicit firearms markets in Europe and terrorist access to these markets, and have demonstrated the potential of using existing expertise and knowledge to improve the intelligence picture on these pressing security phenomena.

This research report investigates the myths and misconceptions surrounding the FN Herstal 5.7 × 28 mm cartridge, assessing the technical characteristics of both the armour-piercing, restricted ammunition types, as well as those available on the civilian market within the United States. The report also critically examines the characterisation of the ammunition and the Five-seveN handgun as portrayed in media, law enforcement, political, legal and other sources, and reflects on the inaccuracies and hyperbole often present in these.

The 5.7 × 28 mm cartridge, originally designed and developed by Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FN Herstal) of Belgium for their P90 sub-machine gun and the later Five-seveN self-loading pistol, has been the subject of much controversy—particularly in the United States, where it has been referred to as a “cop-killer” gun. Much of this is mythology is bound up in its ability to fire armour-piercing ammunition, the sale of which is restricted to law enforcement and military customers. Whilst written in the U.S. context, the findings of Research Report No. 9 speak more broadly to the importance of precisely characterising the capabilities of firearms throughout the world. This is the first exhaustive study of the “cop-killer” moniker as it pertains to the armour-piercing nature of the Five-seveN handgun and its 5.7 mm ammunition, tracing a long-standing mythology that has endured for more than fifteen years despite important evidence which does not support the underlying claims.

With the trend toward so-called “intermediate caliber” cartridges following World War II, several influential studies deemed the range requirements for contemporary infantry small arms to be substantially less than provided by earlier, “full-power” rifle cartridges. In several reports—including the important Hall and Hitchman reports of the 1950s—ranges of no more than 300 meters were anticipated for most infantry engagements. With increasingly responsive and accurate firepower, especially airpower, some later military thinkers envisaged the role of small arms further diminishing. In recent conflicts, particularly Afghanistan, however, infantry small arms have played a more pivotal role than was anticipated on a “modern” battlefield. As one of the authors wrote in two of his recent reports:

“Traditional supporting fires—delivered by heavier weapon systems such as artillery and air-delivered munitions—were often restricted under rules of engagement or operational practices. Meanwhile, opposition forces have increasingly operated from within civilian communities, and military leadership and popular opinion have exhibited a lower tolerance for civilian casualties.”

Although Ethiopia has produced small-calibre ammunition for more than sixty years, little information is publicly available regarding their outputs, and knowledge of Ethiopian cartridges is largely restricted to specialist circles. This piece is intended as a general introduction to Ethiopian ammunition production, with a deeper look at three calibres produced during the post-WWII period under the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie.

ARES has accessed substantial quantities of Ethiopian-made 7.92 × 57 mm, .30-06, and 7.62 × 51 mm cartridges from this period, which are becoming more accessible in global civilian markets, particularly in the United States. We have assessed the physical characteristics and markings of both the cartridges and their packaging, below, as well as conducting limited velocity testing.

Two models of artillery of the 16 th century are analyzed in the article from the collection of Lviv Historical Museum. The technology of application of hook cannons and long-barrel small-caliber guns is considered. A comparative description of the structural features of the guns design that influenced the differences in application is made. Keywords: hook cannon, long-barrel small-caliber gun, artillery of the 16 th century, Lviv Historical Museum. Historical weaponry science is an integral part of military history. Comprehensive study of each individual cannon, which are stored in the museum collections, will enable weapon scientists, historians and those interested in history of artillery development to trace the evolution of this type of weaponry, understand exactly why, when and how particular constructive features of barrels were improved and changed. The use of comparative analysis will make the study of features of using different cannons of one time period possible. І. State of problem study. The history of firearms has always belonged to important research issues for military historians, the reflection of the fact can be seen in numerous scientific works. Although the quantitative composition of arsenals of Ukrainian castles and fortresses of the 14-18 th centuries has already been sufficiently thoroughly studied (works by M. Hrushevsky, I. Krypyakevich, V. Alexandrovich), the question of qualitative analysis remains insufficiently processed [1; 8; 13]. In the monograph "Arsenals of Ukrainian castles of 15-17 th centuries" O. Malchenko reviewed the history of the development of artillery and systems of state arsenals on Ukrainian lands in the 15-17 th centuries, giving partial analyses not only of their quantitative but also qualitative composition [9]. Separately the author highlighted the personal composition of the Ukrainian gunners, the conditions and character of their service. A significant contribution to the study of the history of the appearance and development of artillery of 15-18 th centuries in Lviv was made by K. Badetsky. In the works "Lviv metal casting of the times of Zygmunt I" and "Medieval Lviv metal casting" the author describes which masters and when worked in the city, partly analyzes inventory descriptions of the city arsenal on the basis of documentary sources analysis [2; 3]. In contemporary Ukrainian historiography, the problem of individual item study of artillery artifacts is presented by works of O. Malchenko and M. Verkhoturova. Study of the issues of the history of formation of museum collections of artillery still remains unsatisfactory and needs further processing. II. The purpose of the author is thorough analysis of the structure of the described models that affects the way of their application. Today in the collection of Lviv historical museum there are two models of artillery of the 16 th century, in inventory books they were assigned numbers Z-2875 and Z-2878 [6; 7]. They are very similar visually and constructively, but each has its own peculiarities of application. We associate these two models with light artillery, thus we consider comparison of their characteristics that affect the differences in application expedient. Fig.1

While both men and women can, and do, use violence against each other, men's violence against women is far more common, less justified, and more destructive than women's violence against men. One of the reasons for this asymmetry is that men do not fear retaliation for violence against women, whereas women do fear retaliation for their use of violence against men. The distribution of violence between the genders, then, is suboptimal. Society would be better off as a whole if more women were willing to engage in justified violence against men, and fewer men were willing to engage in unjustified violence against women. To that end, women's justified violence against men should be encouraged, protected, and publicized. This will require a reversal of the current trend in legal and social practices, which is to tolerate and encourage men's unjustified violence against women while discouraging and legally restricting women's violence against men. Even if encouraging an increase in women's justified violence against men may sometimes result in unjustified or disproportionate violence in individual situations, the overall effects of the redistribution of violence will be preferable to the current asymmetry.

Every year in Europe around 1,150 people are shot dead with firearms. These deaths occur in various contexts, including the relational and criminal spheres. The little available research into the weapons used during these fatal crimes suggests that different types of firearms are used in different contexts. In this report we focus on the weapons that were used for one specific form of deadly firearms incidents, namely “public mass shootings”. These are shooting incidents in the (semi-)public space in which the perpetrator(s) use one or more firearms and during which several
people are killed and injured. Under this umbrella term we find numerous types of shooting incidents, ranging from school shootings in which a frustrated pupil murders a number of classmates and/or teachers to terrorist attacks in which groups of perpetrators attempt to spread terror in coordinated attacks. A look at recent mass shootings shows that significant differences can be observed in terms of, for example, the locations where these shootings were carried out,
the number of perpetrators, the motives of the perpetrator(s), the selection of the victims and the firearms used. This report analyses one specific aspect of such shooting incidents, namely the firearms that were used.

Previous studies have demonstrated that public mass shootings are a global phenomenon, but a significant share of such shootings occur in the United States. Recent research comparing public mass shooting rates across 171 countries indicates that 31% of the global public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 occurred in the United States. Such shootings are not very common in Europe, and mass shootings figures generally represent a limited proportion of the total homicide figures and deaths from firearms in any given country. However, the impact of these deadly shooting incidents is usually considerable. Whereas incidents of criminal score settling generally occur at a distance from everyday life (that is, within the criminal underworld), the violence of these mass shootings in the (semi-)public space occurs extremely close to home. It is also the effect of such incidents on the broad public that leads to societal debate on the role of firearms in society, and consequently these incidents are an important for changes to be made to legislative
frameworks or firearms policies. For example, we can observe that deadly shootings in the public sphere of several European countries have already led to amendments to the national legislative framework dealing with firearms or the development of new policy initiatives in this regard: we only have to consider the new legislation adopted in the immediate aftermath of deadly shooting incidents in, for example, the United Kingdom in 1996 (Dunblane), Belgium in 2006 (Antwerp) and Germany in 2009 (Winnenden). The European Union (EU) has also explicitly referred to such deadly shootings in recent years to motivate new policy initiatives. Moreover, the series of terror attacks
in Europe in which terrorists used firearms have recently led to sharply increased attention being
focused on this problem. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris
in November 2015 the European Commission proposed new measures to amend the EU’s
legislative framework around firearms possession to harmonize it further and significantly
strengthen it.

A lack of basic information and thorough analyses of the European firearms issue is a considerable
stumbling block in the development of effective firearms legislation and policy. The bulk of the
research into the relationship between firearms and violence relates to the situation in the United
States.5 This is also the case for research into public mass shootings: the United States has a long
tradition of researching these violent incidents. In Europe, however, significantly less research has
historically been available on the weapons used in mass shootings. For example, very few studies provide an in-depth examination of the types of firearms used in these deadly shootings, the legal status of these weapons and the ways in which the perpetrators got hold of them. Yet these are important focal points in the societal debate surrounding the role of firearms in general in European society, and the various aspects of firearms legislation and policy in particular. A more
substantial understanding of the problem is crucial, with the aim of developing legislation and policy to prevent these tragic shooting incidents as much as possible.

The aim of this report, therefore, through an analysis of the weapons used in public mass shootings in Europe, is to stimulate the societal and policy-oriented debate around violent shooting incidents in Europe. Specifically, we have approached this issue by analysing the firearms used in a selection of eight recent public mass shootings in Europe. After a brief explanation in the first chapter of the methodological framework used, we analyse the selected shooting incidents in the second chapter. Each case study begins with a concise description of the shooting incident itself, followed by an analysis of which types of firearms were used, and especially how the perpetrator(s) was/were able to obtain these weapons. In the final chapter we will analyse and discuss the findings from the case studies. Using this qualitative approach, we intend to go in search of the stories behind the statistics. By analysing in detail the ways in which the perpetrators of these shooting incidents acquired their firearms we intend to draw lessons for current and future European initiatives to
improve firearms legislation and policy. To this end we should emphasize that, as a result of the observed gaps in European research into weapons use in public mass shootings, this report is intended as an exploratory analysis that, it is hoped, will foster the current European debate around firearms legislation and policy, lead to more research into this issue, and ultimately result in concrete steps being taken to deal with the issues that the report raises.

Guns are an enduring symbol of imperialism, whether they are used to impose social order, create ceremonial spectacle, incite panic, or to inspire confidence. In Guns and Society, Saheed Aderinto considers the social, political, and economic history of these weapons in colonial Nigeria. As he transcends traditional notions of warfare and militarization, Aderinto reveals surprising insights into how colonialism changed access to firearms after the 19th century. In doing so, he explores the unusual ways in which guns were used in response to changes in the Nigerian cultural landscape. More Nigerians used firearms for pastime and professional hunting in the colonial period than at any other time. The boom and smoke of gunfire even became necessary elements in ceremonies and political events. Aderinto argues that firearms in the Nigerian context are not simply commodities but are also objects of material culture. Considering guns in this larger context provides a clearer understanding of the ways in which they transformed a colonized society. http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=808990

Ульянов О.Г. Древнейший арсенал в Московском Кремле – место рождения русской артиллерии // Война и оружие: Новые исследования и материалы. Труды Шестой Международной научно-практической конференции 13-15 мая 2015 года. СПб., 2015. Ч. IV. C. 220-243.

Americans can be divided into two groups: those who own guns and those who do not. Although people who own guns and people who do not own guns are often separated along social, cultural, and political lines, it is unclear whether these divisions might extend to population differences in emotional experience. In this paper, we use national cross-sectional data from the 2014 Chapman University Survey on American Fears (n = 1,385) to test whether gun owners are more or less afraid than people who do not own guns. We build on previous work by testing two hypotheses with a broad range of fear-related outcomes, including specific phobias and fears associated with being victimized. The symptom perspective argues that gun ownership is a behavioral expression of fear, that gun owners need guns to protect themselves because they are irrational cowards. Although binary logistic regression models provided minimal support for this idea, there was some evidence to suggest that the odds of gun ownership are higher for people who report being afraid of being victimized by a random/mass shooting. The palliative perspective claims that gun ownership mitigates fear, that owning a powerful weapon is somehow soothing to individuals and their families. Ordinary least squares and negative binomial regression models suggest that people who own guns tend to report lower levels of phobias and victimization fears than people who do not own guns. This general pattern is observed across multiple indicators of fear (e.g., of animals, heights, zombies, and muggings), multiple outcome specifications (continuous and count), and with adjustments for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, household income, marital status, the presence of children, religious identity, religiosity, religious attendance, political orientation, region of residence, and urban residence. Additional longitudinal research is needed to confirm our findings with a wider range of covariates and fear-related outcomes.

In 2013–2014 a collection of metal objects originating from various sites in Moravia and in the eastern half of Bohemia
was handed over to the Regional museum in Vysoké Mýto. The only artefact which can be securely da -
ted to prehistory is a club-shaped head of a bronze pin. The other objects date back to the Middle Ages and the
Modern Period. No certain information is available about the origin of this collection, but if we sum up the
available facts (exclusively metal objects, originating from fortified manors, castles, hillforts or their surroundings),
it is most probably a collection created with the help of a metal detector.
Some tools which are only rarely represented in museum collections (such as a scythe from Potštejn) may
be of more interest. The same is true for militaria – especially the finds of fragments of iron gun barrels and a
lead projectile from Velký Vřešťov are interesting. Although these objects were found in the immediate vicinity
of a prehistoric hillfort, it is beyond doubt that they are related to a siege camp established near the castle in
1467. In their majority, these are trivial objects which would only be of some indicative value if they were discovered
during a systematically led excavation including appropriate documentation.

During the ongoing civil unrest in Kiev, several images have circulated showing Ukrainian security forces equipped with a range of lethal weapons, including sniper rifles. In addition to the SVD-type rifles commonly seen, security forces have been documented using a license-produced copy of one of the Brügger & Thomet (B&T) APR rifles. APR rifles are bolt-action sniper rifles produced in .308 Winchester (APR308 series) and .338 Lapua Magnum (APR338). They have guaranteed accuracies of 1 MOA up to 1,000 and 1,500 metres respectively.

Explosive infantry weapons are becoming more and more common on the battlefield. Many soldiers carry repeating grenade launchers, man-portable guided missiles and so on, instead of rifles. It is common to see soldiers walking around holding not rifles, but rocket launchers. The rocket launcher is becoming almost as common as rifles in places like Middle Eastern warzones. This paper was aimed to investigate how a new rocket launcher would have to be designed in order to replace rifles as the standard-issue infantry weapon. Its inquiry question therefore is “How can rocket launchers replace assault rifles as the standard infantry weapon?” Using reliable secondary sources, the main problems with contemporary rocket launchers were identified: Slow rate of fire, limited ammunition and close-combat friendly-fire risk. Therefore, two solutions to these problems were suggested: Formation firing, and a rocket launcher design that would make it lighter, cheaper and safer in close-quarters combat. A physics simulator was used to determine the best warhead variation for the rocket, and a game was modded to pit soldiers armed with the rocket launcher design against soldiers armed with rifles to see if the rocket launcher design proposed is a superior standard-issue infantry weapon to the rifle. The data collected found the best warhead variation for the rocket was Shape 11 in Appendix B, and also concluded that the rocket launcher design proposed is a superior standard-issue infantry weapon to the rifle, mainly due to its blast radius. Thus a blueprint of the proposed design was drawn.

"An assemblage of 23 fired 9 mm bullets found at the atrium of the Menga dolmen during the University of Málaga 1991 excavations is described and studied. These bullets are first described from a morphological and ballistic viewpoint; then they are analysed from an archaeometallurgical perspective by means of X-Ray Micro-Fluorescence and Lead Isotope Analysis; finally they are discussed within the historical context of the Spanish Civil War through oral and archival data. As a conclusion, it is suggested that the bullets could be material evidence of summary executions occurred in Antequera in the weeks after the military rebellion of July 1936, which would establish Menga as unexpected witness to some of the most tragic events in the 20th century local history."

While both men and women can, and do, use violence against each other, men’s violence against women is far more common, less justified, and more destructive than women’s violence against men. One of the reasons for this asymmetry is that men do not fear retaliation for violence against women, whereas women do fear retaliation for their use of violence against men. The distribution of violence between the genders, then, is suboptimal. Society would be better off as a whole if more women were willing to engage in justified violence against men, and fewer men were willing to engage in unjustified violence against women. To that end, women’s justified violence against men should be encouraged, protected, and publicized. This will require a reversal of the current trend in legal and social practices, which is to tolerate and encourage men’s unjustified violence against women while discouraging and legally restricting women’s violence against men. Even if encouraging an increase in women’...

Arms acquisition is a crucial venture for armed insurgency groups for carrying out their militant activities. I argue that the specific manner in which these groups obtain weapons may have important consequences for the dynamics of violent intrastate conflict. While most previous studies of the relationship between arms acquisition and armed conflict have focused solely on the impact of arms availability, in this article I analyze the impact of two specific aspects of arms acquisition patterns—the methods and the degree of leadership control—on the dynamics and nature of armed conflict in a qualitative case study of the armed conflict in the Niger Delta (Nigeria) between 1995 and 2005. I conclude that the specific arms acquisition method and the degree of leadership control over this process have strongly affected the dynamics of the conflict.

Although there has been no direct empirical evidence linking sexual dysfunction (SD) with gun ownership, speculation has been widespread and persistent for decades. In this paper, we formally examine the association between SD and gun ownership. Our primary hypothesis, derived from the psychosexual theory of gun ownership, asserts that men experiencing SD are more likely to personally own guns than other men. To test this hypothesis, we used recently collected data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (CHAPS), a national probability sample of 780 men, and binary logistic regression to model gun ownership as a function of SD. Our key finding is that men experiencing SD are no more likely to own guns than men without SD. This interpretation was supported across several indicators of SD (performance anxiety, erection trouble, and ED medication) and gun ownership (personal gun ownership, purchasing a gun during the pandemic, and keeping a gun in one’s bedroom). To our knowledge, we are the first to have directly tested the association between SD and gun ownership in America. Our findings are important because they contribute to our understanding of factors associated with gun ownership by challenging the belief that phallic symbolism and masculinity somehow drive men with SD to purchase guns. Our results also remind us of the perils of gun culture rhetoric, which, in this case, function to discredit gun owners and to further stigmatize men with ED. We conclude by calling for more evidence-based discussions of SD and guns in society.

Policy and research dealing with the relationship between women and firearms usually stress the role of women as victims. Of the estimated 66,000 annual homicides of women committed each year, roughly 40 percent involve firearms. Guns are even more commonly used to injure, intimidate, and coerce women.

Although some women own and use guns, policy and research on firearms tend to focus on the role of and effects on men.

A new Small Arms Survey Research Note, Women and Gun Ownership, shows that women account for a much smaller proportion of gun owners than men, and that women are not as aware of—or not as willing to acknowledge—the presence of firearms in homes and communities.

The Research Note examines what can be said with relative certainty about the relationship between women and firearms ownership, in order to establish a baseline for systematic analysis and policy-making.

The study discusses issues relating to gender regarding data gathered from firearm registration and from household surveys, and women’s perceptions of firearms in the home and the community.

Ai avut vreodata in vedere serviciile de inchiriere arme pentru siguranta ta, a persoanelor dragi tie si a bunurilor de care dispui? Vrei sa fii sigur ca apelezi la o companie autorizata care iti va pune la dispozitie toate informatiile de care ai nevoie? Cei de la Rentarm te vor ajuta punandu-ti la dispozitie servicii de inchiriere arme. Daca esti interesat in aceste servicii de inchiriere arme, dar si in cele de vanzare/cumparare arme, Rentarm iti poate oferi toate informatiile si produsele necesare la care se adauga, bineinteles, si toate accesoriile de cuviinta. Fiecare solicitare din partea ta va fi tratata cu maxim de profesionalism si seriozitate pentru ca tu sa dispui de tot ceea ce este nevoie. De ce beneficiezi de servicii de inchiriere arme? Multi dintre cei care au in vedere serviciile de inchiriere arme iau in calcul numarul mare de jafuri, furturi, acte de vandalism etc. care au loc in fiecare zi. Dispunand de posibilitatea de a inchiria arme, tu iti asiguri un anumit nivel de siguranta la care se adauga siguranta celor dragi tie precum si asigurarea bunurilor pe care le ai. Bineinteles, un rol important il are si contractul pe care il semnezi impreuna cu firma care iti garanteaza aceste servicii de inchiriere arme. Daca detii o firma de paza pentru afacerea ta sau pentru locuinta ta, este important sa te documentezi si in legatura cu serviciile de inchirieri arme pentru care trebuie sa optezi. In acest fel, orice problema cu care s-ar confrunta agentii de paza, ei vor dispune de toata munitia si accesoriile necesare pentru ca in caz de nevoie sa actioneze corespunzator. Pentru servicii de inchirieri arme, este de preferat sa te adresezi unei firme autorizate in acest domeniu intrucat doar asa vei fi sigur ca vei dispune de informatii necesare precum si de indrumare de specialitate. De asemenea, si armele de care vei dispune vor veni la pachet cu restul de accesorii necesare: incarcatoare, pistoale, cartuse, vergea, toc. Siguranta ta si a celor dragi tie trebuie sa fie o prioritate si de aceea, este foarte important sa te documentezi in legatura cu firmele care iti pot asigura servicii de inchiriere arme sau de vanzare/ cumparare. Majoritatea firmelor iti pun la dispozitie cursuri prin care tu sa iti poti obtine permisul port-arma sau cursuri de pregatire chiar daca tu deja posezi acest permis. Daca nu va fi cazul tau, ci a agentilor tai de paza, asigura-te ca ti-ai luat toate masurile de prevenire necesare! Rentarm – servicii de inchirieri arme oricand este cazul! Firma Rentarm are in vedere o gama de servicii pentru clientii sai care cuprinde inchiriere arme, comercializare arme, importul si exportul de arme si depozitarea de arme si munitie letala si neletala. Cu o experienta vasta in domeniu, Rentarm sta la dispozitia ta oricand este cazul pentru a raspunde prompt nevoilor si exigentelor tale. Informatiile necesare cu privire la inchirierea sau cumpararea de arme le vei gasi si pe site-ul firmei, iar daca nu te descurci, cere ajutorul reprezentantiilor companiei ori de cate ori este cazul! Rentarm pune pret pe siguranta clientilor sai in orice moment!