Guns Ownership and Human Rights

Abstract

Responding to an article in the previous issue, this Article suggests that gun prohibition has often been harmful to human rights. We examine Jamaica, Bougainville, Karamoja (Uganda), and East Timor to detail the futility of attempts to prohibits, and to detail how such attempted prohibitions harm other human rights. The article also notes that, while gun control does not itself cause genocide, almost all genocides have been preceded by sustained efforts to disarm the victim populations.

Keywords: Human rights, genocide, firearms, small arms & light weapons, Jamaica, Bougainville, Karamoja, Uganda, East Timor

JEL Classification: K14, K42