United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network
Welcome to the website of the United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation. Information on the methodology of the study is provided below, as are links to documents presented to the fifth and sixth sessions of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, including the survey instrument. The data of the Survey are also available below. Note that files may be downloaded in various formats, including the Portable Document Format (*.pdf) from Adobe Systems. Please click here to download the Adobe Acrobat viewer.
Pursuant to the Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/27,
section IV. A., paragraphs 7 and 8, adopted on the recommendation
of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at
its fourth session (Vienna, Austria, 30 May - 9 June 1995), the
present study on firearm regulation deals with, inter alia, the
following topics:
(a) Criminal cases, accidents and suicides in which firearms are
involved, including the number of such cases and the number of
victims involved, and the status of firearm regulation by the
law enforcement authorities;
(b) The situation with regard to transnational illicit trafficking
in firearms;
(c) National legislation and regulations relevant to firearm regulation;
(d) Relevant initiatives for firearm regulation at the regional
and interregional levels.
An additional purpose of the study was to determine what information
could be collected on an ongoing basis.
The international project team established for the study determined
at the outset that the research should: a) be descriptive and
neutral; b) deal with only firearms, excluding landmines and other
armaments; and c) focus solely on civilian regulations and civilian-owned
firearms, excluding the military.
In the above framework, the following topics were selected:
Given the need to determine the nature of the information that
could feasibly be exchanged on an ongoing basis and the fact that
no similar international survey had previously been undertaken,
the project team considered the study to be exploratory in nature
and determined that a series of questions on each topic would
be appropriate, even though it was expected that not all questions
could be answered by all States. In addition, a blend of quantitative
questions (eliciting yes/no or numerical answers) and qualitative
questions (narrative, open-ended) were selected. The project team
anticipated that it would be difficult for States to numerically
represent the nature and extent of any firearm smuggling problem;
hence, verbal descriptions of issues were requested. Generally,
the level of detail to be pursued in the questionnaire was limited
by the budget available to the study and the expected resource
limitations of Governments, which would limit their ability to
respond to a new questionnaire on firearms. The detail in the
survey instrument was also limited by the need to collect information
within a short period of time, enabling the Secretary-General
to report to the Commission in time for its sixth session.
A draft of the survey instrument was tested in Canada, Japan,
and Singapore. On the basis of the pretests, revisions were made
to the survey instrument. To help ensure the accuracy of replies
to the survey, the survey instrument was translated into Spanish
by the Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and
the Treatment of Offenders. In cooperation of the African Institute
for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, the Canadian
Government translated the survey instrument into French. The English
version of the survey instrument was distributed to the Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its fifth session
as a conference room paper (E/CN.15/1996/CRP.5) and was subsequently
endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution
1996/28.
In addition to the information that would be collected through
the survey, it was deemed important by the project team to consult
with other intergovernmental organizations and, where possible,
to collect other international data pertaining to firearms. The
other organizations included the World Health Organization (WHO),
the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and
the Customs Co-operation Council (also called the World Customs
Organization). Other international data sources to be examined
were the international crime (victims) survey, coordinated by
the Department of Justice of the Netherlands in conjunction with
the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute.
The final research report will contain an annex with additional
findings.
Sufficient funds were available to invite approximately 50 States
to participate in the survey. The project team selected Member
States of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,
on the basis of equitable geopolitical representation. The Secretary-General
in a note verbale dated 10 October 1996, invited all other Member
States to participate in the project pursuant to Economic and
Social Council resolution 1996/28.
Twelve States responded to the survey as a result of the note
verbale. Other replies to the survey were provided by national
consultants. Four members of the Project Team, who represented
a regional criminal justice institute, had agreed to consult governments
and to identify a national consultant who would assume responsibility
for the completion of the survey questionnaire. Representatives
of regional institutes coordinated the surveys within their regions
and answered the follow-up questions of national consultants as
required. In most cases, in exchange for the reimbursement of
costs for the collection of data, contracts were established with
national consultants. The contracts were administered by the International
Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.
Completed survey questionnaires were received by 1 May 1997 from
49 States. The project team noted that, given the number of States
and the criteria that had been applied to the selection of States,
it should not be assumed that the results of the research study
are globally representative. Nonetheless, the study sample can
be viewed as a reasonable cross-section of States. The participating
States, listed according to region, are as follows:
| Burkina Faso
Guinea South Africa Tunisia Uganda United Republic of Tanzania Zambia | China
India Islamic Republic of Iran Japan Malaysia Philippines Singapore Viet Nam | Austria
Belarus Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Luxembourg Poland Republic of Moldova Romania Russian Federation Slovakia Spain Sweden United Kingdom | Argentina
Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador Jamaica Mexico Peru Trinidad & Tobago | Canada
United States | Australia
New Zealand Papua New Guinea |
| Member States responding through the note verbale process are indicated in italics. | |||||
Responses were coded into a database, a draft report was prepared
and a data validation process was begun. This involved, first
of all, discussions with participants in the Expert Group Meeting
on Gathering Information on and Analysis of Firearm Regulation,
held at Vienna from 10-14 February 1997. Those participants who
had been involved in preparing their country's response to the
survey were asked to clarify their replies and to comment on their
interpretations of the survey questions. These included representatives
of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India,
Jamaica, Japan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Tunisia, United
Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, and Zambia. Subsequently,
all respondents were sent copies of the tables from the draft
report, together with some clarifications of terminology (e.g.
the definition of 'prohibit') and a correction to the French translation
of the questionnaire. The inclusion of tables based on codifications
of the narrative questions provided an opportunity for respondents
to add to the information included in their original narrative
responses. Amendments and additions have been received from the
following 24 States as at 1 May 1997: Australia, Belarus, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Guinea,
India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Republic of Moldova,
Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,
United Kingdom, and United States of America.
Documents on firearm regulation have been prepared for the fifth
and sixth sessions of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice; please click on the links below to view respective documents.
Note that the Report of the Secretary-General for the sixth session
of the Commission contains a summary of the international study
on firearm regulation.
The survey instrument itself, as noted above, was distributed
to Member States both through the national consultant process
and through a note verbale dated 10 October 1996.
Responses to the Survey have been maintained in a database, which
is updated on an ongoing basis to reflect the inclusion of new
information.
The file entitled unsfrdta.zip contains the data obtained
in the Survey, in the form of a Microsoft Access 2.0 file. Please
be aware that this dataset will be modified as Member States continue
to validate the information they have provided. Furthermore, this
downloadable dataset will be enhanced periodically to reflect
the inclusion of new survey replies.
It may be most helpful to keep a copy of the survey instrument
(above) close at hand when using the dataset, as fields have been
numbered according to corresponding Question numbers. Finally,
please be sure to read all accompanying notes fields for important
information.
To obtain a hard copy of any of the documents listed, please contact
Emil Wandzilak, Documentation Officer, Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Division, United Nations Office at Vienna, PO Box 500,
Vienna International Centre, A-1400 Vienna, AUSTRIA.
This page last updated on 14 May 1997.
© 1997 United Nations