Arms and Trade GroupNejat , Hyomin, Wassim, Molly and MichelBISGST 303Research Proposal1. Why, Who Benefits, and is it Legal?For our commodity chain project our group has decided to focus on the M-16 assault rifle. This topic is more relevant today than ever due to current legislation that is attempting to be passed limiting access to such weapons; and our current situations in Afghanistan and Iraq where this is the most commonly issued weapon to our troops. Also the M-16 has been the main weapon used by the United States military, and its allies, for the past 50 years. Another interesting aspect of the M-16 project is that it is and can be traded both legally and illegally, within the borders of the United States and abroad. This is where politics and practice collide; the beneficiaries from the trade of the M-16 rife are the arms dealers and manufacturers that have both large contracts with the Governments and also a private sales market here in the United States. The people who bare the risk, well that would be anyone who is on the wrong end of the gun, quite literally. With gun violence in the United States far higher than any other “developed” state in the world it is interesting to see how we justify the availability, and easy access, of the M-16 and other assault weapons to the average, everyday citizen. According to Nancy E. Gist, in The Bureau of Justice Assistance’s, Reducing Illegal Firearms Trafficking guide, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 1996 Uniform Crime Reports indicates that firearms were used in 29 percent of all murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults in the United States in that year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearms-related violence is a leading cause of injury-related death, second only to automobile-related fatalities (III). These are alarming numbers that force one to think how and why fire arms are traded so easily within US boarders. 2. Where is it made? Originally, Colt Industries manufactured the M16 although at the same time multiple different countries had patents on particular parts of the rifle due to its high demand during the Vietnam War. As the patents of the M16 were up the U.S. military had exclusive rights to the technical information of the gun. This allowed for FN Manufacturing to bid on the exclusive rights to produce the weapon. FN Manufacturing eventually beat out Colt Industries’ bid in 1988.Fn manufacturing’s parent company, Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, was created in Belgium and in fact has a long history of manufacturing weapons, as it is an international firearms manufacturer. They typically produce military and law enforcement small arms. Their U.S. based manufacturing plant is located in Columbia, South Carolina. Both production and their testing facility are located here after Fabrique Nationale de Herstal established ownership of said facilities in 1977.would be an interesting commodity to study. 3. Who consumes it?Office of the Chief of Staff (ARMY) Washington DC Weapons Systems Analysis. “Report of the M16 Rifle Review Panel.” Who Consumes It:M16 is the primary U.S. military service rifle that replaced the M14 Grand rifle during the Vietnam War and it continues to be the primary rifle for all service members of the U.S. Armed forces. M16 has been widely spread and utilized by many other military forces around the world,

especially nations that are allies with the United States. M16 is the highest produce rifle in history and with its popularity it wasn’t long before M16 was being produced and sold to civilians with the name of AR-15. The only difference between the two rifle is the firing functions of the 3 round burst M16 has to semi-automatic fire on the AR -15. M16 was created to service the United States Armed Forces but as popularity of the rifle progressed it was also utilized by government and private sectors for the civilian population; police force or private security for instance. The M16 is also widely collected by civilians for purpose of competition shooting, hunting, self-defense, and added collection to the gun collectors. 4. Who/how transports it?There are various ways of transporting it. The is the legal way of transporting which is when two states or two legal entities are doing trade or are purchasing the commodity in a legal fashion. This method of transportation doesn’t cause as much legal issues as the illegal method of transporting. The illegal method of transportation often time ends up at the hands of different groups with political agenda. For our research we will be looking at Syria in the Middle East, Rwanda in Africa and The united states and how the M16 travels across these countries5. Is it legal, illegal, or both?The M16 Bolt carrier are not designed and intended solely and exclusively for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun and are not any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled. An M16 bolt carrier is simply just a machine gun part. The bolt carrier is not a firearm as defined by the GCA and is also not viewed as a machinegun by the NFA. The sale of this part is legal and unregulated under federal firearms laws. It is not unlawful to utilize an m16 bolt carrier in a semi-automatic AR 15 type of rifle. By modifying a semi-automatic rifle to shoot automatically makes it a machine gun which is unlawful. At that point it is a creation and is unlicensed making it illegal. 6. Who benefits and who bears the risks of it?When we look at the exchange of M16 in the past 16 years Asian countries have played a huge role. Asian countries have imported 44% share of the global M16 market. Indian and China were amongst the countries that were on the top of the list. This is the legal M16 trade that was done. Western countries such as Russia and the US still continue to benefit from the trade of M16 on the global market. The US accounts for about 30% global export trade. Developing, and war torn countries such as Somalia, Syria are a bearing the risk of this global arms trade. In Somalia different organizations have access to arms via illegal means of trade on the black market. This has been a destabilizing factor in the country. Since these M16 and other weapons end up at the hands of irresponsible rebels.Some states such as South Africa have also started purchasing weapons to flux the muscle and show power. The more weapons a state acquires the more it builds up its continent. States like South Africa are trying to show the world the power they have. 7. Who, if anyone, protests against this commodity at any point along the chain?United Nations and other NGOs are fierce opponents of the global arms trade especially that of the M16. The United Nations general assembly has recently passed a global arms treaty which seeks to regulate the industry itself to ensure that weapons tay out the hands of criminals. The arms trade's goal is to make it difficult for deadly weapons such as M16 to be diverted into the illicit market and to help keep warlords, pirates, terrorist, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms.

Annotated Bibliography1. History of the M16 Weapon System. Ft. Belvoir : Defense Technical Information Center, 01 JUN 1968.Annotation:This document was once classified for government officials only but it was unclassified to the public February 1, 1994. The purpose for this document was to provide history and functions of the M16 for the U.S. Armed Forces. The document provides all range of aspects from its firing capability of the rifle to its reliability through all condition of the environment. This document also provides survey report of the M16 during the Vietnam War and every detail of test results of the ammunition. In the end, the documentation provided enough research data for the decision makers to make the M16 primary service rifle for all branches of the U.S. military.2.U.S. Department of JusticeBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and ExplosivesJohn R. SpencerChief Firearms technology branch http://www.gandrtactical.com/images/archive/ATF%20M16%20Letter.pdf 3.Annotation and citation Dinger, Ed. "FN Manufacturing LLC." International Directory of Company Histories. Ed. Tina Grant. Vol. 110. Detroit: St. James Press, 2010. 155-159. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. The purpose of this is a book is to specifically provide information and history about the manufacturing company FN Manufacturing, also known as Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. It describes how this manufacturing company came to be, where this company is located and information on the products that they create. When particularly looking at the commodity the M16, this book addresses where the concept of the gun originally came from as well as how FN Manufacturing obtained the privilege to produce such a needed piece of military weaponry. This source is important in this certain project because it provides background information as to where this rifle is coming from which, is extremely important in mapping it’s travel through the world. With a book as valuable as this one is to our research project it is extremely helpful to figure out as much information about the origin of this rifle as possible. This book provides a great starting ground for our research.Gist, Nancy E. Bureau of Justice Assistance. Reducing Illegal Firearms Trafficking Promising Practices and Lessons Learned. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. 810 Seventh Street NW. Washington, DC 20531. Online. 4. This article is a forward describing the rampant problems facing different areas of the county involving illegal trade of fire arms. It contains many first hand documents reguarding illegal trafficking of guns and areas where this crime occurs often and attempts to grasp why and how it can be prevented. This document will aid in finding information on how the government attempts to regulate the arms market.5. P.A.P-Blog, Human Rights ETC.

Human Rights from the perspective of politics, art, philosophy, law economics, statistics and psychology.http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-war-conflict/statistics-on-arms-trade/This is a collection statistics and data on the global M16 trade as well as arm small arms trade. The statistics also encompasses who the top suppliers and buyers of M16 and other weapons are, as well as other useful statistics for our research, 6. The Globalization of Arms Industry: the Next proliferation Change by Richard A. Bitzinger This article is about the international trade of arms including the M16 across different countries in both legal and illegal means. It addresses the different actors who play major role in the global arms industry and how power plays a role in that relationship. It looks at different interest groups such as indigenous industries, different economic and political motives for the way illegal trade of weapons like M16 happen across national boundaries 7. This is a primary document from the UN Disarmament Commission from the General Assembly meeting in 1996 and that document could be find below on the link. http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/51/1828. In this document the UNODA (United Nations Disarmament Association). Arms Control The New Guide to Negotiations and Agreements by Jozef GoldbaltThis is a collection of international conferences, treaties, chargers and other important decisions both binding and nonbinding that the international community has signed with regards to the M16 and the arms trade industry. It looks at the trade and transportation of M16 from a international institution and international relations point of view. 9. Arms sales, arms control and regional security in the Middle East by Anthony HCordesmanIf one looks only at regional trends in military spending and arms transfers, the trends in the Middle East seem positive. This article looks at the different possible factors that have lead to this including political and economic factors both on a national and international level.