Interhealth

The Damage Caused by Just One Gun:

The following story is adapted from an account written by Dr Melanie Archer, a forensic scientist working in the Solomon Islands during the civil conflict of 2003. Social and political tensions over longstanding land and compensation claims erupted into armed conflict between 1998 and 2003. The two principle militia groups were known as the Isatabu Freedom Movement of Guadalcanal and the Malaita Eagle Force¹.

The gun pictured here is an SR88A. It is a high velocity weapon which fires bullets that travel faster than the speed of sound. Once fired, these bullets create a permanent cavity, cause hemorrhaging, and also produce an effect known as cavitation. As the bullet passes through tissue, it produces waves of rapid stretching, compression and shearing of the tissue, creating a second cavity that can be up to 40 times larger than the bullet. The result is widespread, severe tissue damage that spreads far from the bullet’s projectile².

The Solomon Islands government bought this gun in 1992 along with several hundred others. It was stored in the police armoury at Rove Police Station until it was stolen by the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF), a group of guerilla fighters, in 2000.

The SR88A ends up in the hands of Stanley Avua, a 21 year old MEF militant. He has no prior weapons training, but is a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.

Two weeks before, Guale militants, a rival Guerilla force, had captured two of Stanley’s fellow MEF soldiers and murdered them. Stanley joins a raiding party to attack the rival militia and avenge the deaths. Stanley is both terrified and excited, and he is nearly deafened by exploding ordinance. He’s not really sure what to do as he has never fired a gun before, so he simply fires from the hip as he’s seen Schwarzenegger do in the movies. Unfortunately for Stanley, while this position looks stylish, it is susceptible to the effects of accumulated recoil (the sum of multiple “kicks” of the gun that occur after each shot is fired). Recoil accumulates rapidly in automatic weapons due to the high rate of fire, making it difficult to maintain the weapon steady during firing. The muzzle of the gun tends to move upwards unless the shooter braces the gun against the shoulder in a more stable firing position. Stanley’s gun muzzle keeps riding upwards so that he sprays uncontrollable arcs of fire from the SR88A at an astonishing 13 rounds per second.

Dominik, a 14 year old boy from a neighbouring village, was walking with his friends when they heard the fighting begin. Terrified, he and his friends begin to make a run for the village, when a single projectile from Stanley’s gun hits Dominik in the left leg from a range of 50 metres. His horrified friends carry him back home.

Dominik cannot go to hospital because all of the vehicles have been commandeered by militants. His family attempt to stop the external hemorrhage. There are no medical personnel in the area, as fierce fighting has kept even the Red Cross out. Dominik bleeds and dies within six hours of being wounded.

Another of Stanley’s bullets ricochets and hits fellow MEF militant, Francis, in the right lumbar region. Francis is taken to the hospital in Honiara by his comrades in the back of a utility vehicle.

The militants threaten hospital staff at gunpoint to give priority to Francis. There is one general surgeon, but limited antibiotics and antiseptics. Francis gets immediate care and some basic treatment, at the expense of other patients.

Francis is stabilised by immediate treatment but eventually develops peritonitis from his gunshot wound and dies within a week. There were inadequate antibiotics to save him¹.

Militia members during the Solomon Islands Conflict, 1998-2003.

What are Small Arms?

Small arms weapons include assault rifles, machine guns, mortars, and rocket propelled grenades, as well as handguns, pistols, and other firearms. Because of their size, availability, low cost and ease of use, small arms have become a widespread cause of death and injury, particularly in economically depressed, politically unstable and conflict prone areas³.

Global ownership of small arms⁶.

Global Burden of Small Arms:

The International Action Network of Small Arms (IANSA) estimates that over 300,000 people are shot dead and over one million people are injured by small arms annually. The burden of conflict falls disproportionately on civilians, including women and children who face violence and rape at the hands of armed militants. Civilians account for over 80 percent of all conflict casualties, with 90% having been inflicted by small arms.4 But these are only the direct effects. Small arms violence can shatter years of progress in development, health and humanitarian areas. They were the largest single cause of food emergencies between 1992 and 2003. Conflicts fueled by small arms are also associated with disease outbreaks, with research conducted by the WHO finding increased prevalence of malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and other ailments in African war zones³.

Small Arms Movement:
Over 600 million small arms currently circulate in global markets. In the Pacific Island nations alone, IANSA estimates that lawfully held civilian stockpiles of small arms include 3.1 million firearms, or one privately held gun for every ten people. This does not take into account illegally acquired weapons. Theft from police and military stores is common, particularly in incidences of suspected government corruption or participation.  In the 1970’s, Australian made SLR assault rifles were supplied to the police and defence forces of Papua New Guinea. In the 80’s and 90’s, the nation purchased more rifles from the US. Of the 7,664 guns provided, only 2013 (26%) remain in government arsenals. The remainder appears to have gone missing due to theft or corruption⁵.

Australia’s Arms Industry; the role that we play

Australia’s military manufacturing sector used to be largely state owned, with exports being a small component of their produce. From the 1980’s onwards, however, it has been a deliberate policy of federal and state governments to promote the export of military produce. In 1999, the then- Defense Minister John Moore proudly claimed that Australia was “on its way to becoming the arms supermarket of the world”. Currently, the Australian Defence Industries (ADI), our weapons manufacturing industry, is privatized. It is part of a multinational French-based corporation called Thales. A privatized military sector, abetted by national policy, cannot be counted on to place national security, peace or human rights interests above the pursuit of personal profit. Australia exports weapons to a wide range of countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The security forces of many of these countries have been implicated in incidents of human rights violation. Theft or the “leakage” of these weapons from government holdings is also a major concern⁵. In the Pacific, Australia has a high-profile role as a regional peace keeper. It is ironic that our soldiers are being killed by Australian made guns.

The Next Step:
Gun violence is a preventable problem, much like disease or injury. Stronger regulation of the legal trade would help keep guns out of the hands of those who are likely to misuse them, whether it is an armed rebel group committing atrocities during a civil war, a police force that uses live ammunition to suppress public demonstrations, or an individual with a history of domestic violence⁶.

Get Involved:

Medical professionals are in a unique position to advocate for tighter small arms control. The International Action Network on Small arms (IANSA) is an international movement that aims to reduce small arms violence by raising awareness of the issue at hand, and campaigning for stronger regulation of guns.

Aiming for Prevention is an initiative of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which aims to reduce and prevent injuries and death from small arms violence.The Australian affiliate of IPPNW is the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW). This organization aims to reduce the violence associated with small arms, as well as campaigns for nuclear weapons disarmament and human rights. In 2008, they successfully campaigned for the cancellation of a major arms trade fair, which planned to open in Adelaide in November, 2008.

MAPW currently has an active student base. A Perth based student group will begin in 2009. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested in finding out more, or visit the official MAPW website.

Natalie Schulman

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it <!-- document.write( '</' ); document.write( 'span>' ); //-->

Western Australia Medical Students Society

References:
1. Archer, M. Case Study: the story of one assault rifle. Medical Association for Prevention of War; 2008
Available from: http://www.mapw.org.au/download/mapw-factsheet-2008-small-arms-solomons-case-study
2. Irion, G. Comprehensive Wound Management. SLACK Incorporated; 2002
3. Aiming for Prevention, The Scourge of Small Arms and Light Weapons [online]. 2009 [cited 2009 Mar 6]. Available from: http://www.ippnw.org/Programs/AFP/SmallArmsThreat.html
4. Shah, A. Small Arms- They Cause 90% of Civilian Casualties [online]. 2006 [cited 2009 Mar 6]. Available from:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/78/small-arms-they-cause-90-of-civilian-casualties
5. Medical Association for Prevention of War. Fact Sheets on the Global Weapons Trade [online]. 2008 [cited 2009 Mar 6]. Available from:
http://www.mapw.org.au/files/downloads/Factsheets_combined.pdf 
6. IANSA. Gun Violence: the global crisis [online]. 2008 [cited 2009 Mar 6]. Available from: http://www.iansa.org/un/documents/GlobalCrisis07.pdf