On June 27th, Liberia presented their opening statement. It is full of congratulations to itself and thanks to the international community for ending 14 years of civil war. And it presses the importance of the Programme of Action.

In the statement, Conmany B. Wesseh details the horrors that his country has endured due the proliferation of small arms:

• About 10% of Liberia's 3 million population died from gun wounds or other means facilitated by the presence of arms;
• About 40% of the population became refugees with a higher percentage having been internally displaced at some point;
• About 5% bore arms one time or the other for violent purposes;
• The entire Liberian state experienced intermittent collapse with military, police and other security structures being personalized by rival warlords;
• ....

The Programme of Action calls for the registration of firearms and tracking of imports / exports. Some of the countries are calling for the tracking ammunition and the confiscation of civilian weapons.

Given the collapse of the police and the military, what good would have been done for Liberia if the PoA had been implemented 10 years ago? None. By admission, warlords gained control of police and military weaponry.

As an alternative, what would have happened in the country if all of the people were well armed and equipped to resist the warlords? There would have been great violence and many people would have died. But would the results have been worse than the actual outcome? Probably not. At the very least, the people would have been free to resist the tyranny at engulfed them.

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