United Nations Conference to Review the
PROGRAM OF ACTION
to
PREVENT, COMBAT AND ERADICATE THE ILLICIT TRADE IN SMALL ARM AND LIGHT WEAPONS
 IN ALL ITS ASPECTS


"Comments From The Civilian Manufacturing Sector"
C. Edward Rowe, Chairman
Manufacturers Advisory Group
30 June 2006

Thank you President Kariyawasam.
I am Ted Rowe, Chairman of the Manufacturers Advisory Group of the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. Mr. President I wish to compliment you on the outstanding manner in which you are conducting this important Conference. I commend you for your efforts in reaching out to civil society and private sector groups as you prepared for this meeting.

Mr. President, earlier Carlo Peroni the President of the World Forum gave you a brief description of the organization. I might add that the World Forum represents over ten million association members in the international arena. The Manufacturers Advisory Group of the World Forum has within its membership the major civilian firearms manufacturers of the world.

Mr. President, the Manufacturers Advisory Group was founded in January of 2001 and has conducted numerous workshops and appearances internationally where the small arms issue has been discussed. Over the years these meetings have been conducted in Rome, London, New York, Naples, Geneva, Sardinia and Canberra, Australia. We have always sought to make positive contributions and we were particularly active in the formation of workshops on the criterion for marking and tracing. We have also held workshops on brokering, definitions and other issues not directly related to the UN such as the effects of lead in ammunition and shooting range ventilation.

Mr. President I would very much like to reiterate something that I said at the 2005 Biennial Meeting of States. At that time I complimented the delegations of Japan and China as well as the members of the European Union and others for their efforts in defining small arms as those "manufactured to military specifications for use as a lethal weapon of war". We still maintain that small arms should be defined only as "fully automatic firearms for use as weapons of war".

Mr. President, it serves no real useful purpose for this body to expend its effort on the lawfully owned civilian firearms of the world. Similarly it should not expend its efforts on something as impractical as ammunition markings. As you and I have discussed, the "net" must be designed so as to allow the legitimate to survive and to catch only the illicit.

Mr. President, the Program of Action has been studied and reviewed and is on its way to implementation. The Program is complete and needs now only to be put into place by each of the States according to their own constitution and regional circumstances.

Mr. President, we stand ready to assist and to cooperate with you and the individual States and to share our knowledge in the finalization of this completed Program of Action.

Thank you.