International Action Network on Small Arms

The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is an international non-governmental organisation recognised by the United Nations. IANSA is the global movement against gun violence, linking civil society organisations working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons, and all ownership of firearms by anyone other than a government agency. IANSA supports efforts to make people safer by reducing demand for such weapons, improving firearms regulation and strengthening controls on arms transfers. The network has over 700 members that undertake research, advocacy and campaigning to promote local, national, regional and global measures to strengthen human security.

IANSA's Women's Network is the only international network focused on the connections between gender, women's rights, small arms and armed violence.

IANSA was involved in lobbying the 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms which produced an agreed programme of action. A UN Review Conference ended in July 2006 [2] without further agreement. A subsequent meeting in 2008, agreed a substantive outcome document by a majority vote .[3]

IANSA, part of the Control Arms Campaign, promotes an international treaty regulating the conventional arms trade. A resolution to begin work on this Arms Trade Treaty was approved by the UN General Assembly in 2006.

The US National Rifle Association says IANSA is using the treaty as the first step in a ban on private gun ownership in the United States, and also of making it easier for the world's dictatorships to oppress their own citizens. The Gun Owners of America lobbying organisation has been equally vocal in its criticism of IANSA.

IANSA is described as an umbrella network to which almost all national and regional gun control groups belong and is estimated to represent over 800 gun control organizations in 120 countries. IANSA opposes the use of firearms for self-defense. It advocates prohibiting the private possession of many kinds of small arms, including semi-automatic rifles and handguns. It advocates that private citizens undergo a licensing process before they can possess any remaining firearms, and that legally possessed firearms be stored unloaded and away from ammunition.

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