Philip Alpers speaks at Slovenia UN Workshop
United Nations
Ljubljana, Slovenia
25 September 1997
"Its a myth that more guns we have, the safer we are" says New Zealand gun policy researcher Philip Alpers.
"Gun control advocates on five continents support the United Nations accelerating efforts to promote firearms regulation on a global scale. What you are seeing today in Slovenia is the first in the latest move in a world-wide initiative for gun control which began with the unanimous vote of 138 nations at the Ninth Congress of the United Nations in Cairo in 1995", said Mr Alpers.
He was speaking at the United Nations European Regional Workshop on Firearm regulation for the Purpose of Crime Prevention and Public Safety in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Mr Alpers voiced the views of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) attempting to curb the proliferation of domestic light weapons.
"By measuring and documenting the link between gun availibility and subsequent gun death and injury, the UN is acknowledging a public health issue of concern to many nations," Mr Alpers said.
"By tracking, tracing and registering guns, individual nations will be a proven investment in information-based policing and community safety on their own soil. Perhaps more importantly, by linking these controls across borders and between continents, governments will more strongly assert the right of their citizens to live free of the fear of increased gun violence.
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