“Let me guess…this isn’t about the alcohol or tobacco.”
That awesome line is delivered by the global arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie “Lord of War,” when he is approached by ATF agents.
In reality, while ATF does a lot to prevent the illegal smuggling of firearms out of America, it plays a relatively modest role in addressing the global proliferation of military weapons. ATF is basically a domestic law enforcement agency.
(Of course, given its expertise and unique resources, it could do a lot more to help with this issue, but that would take additional funding. Otherwise, it cannot afford to take its eye off violent crime in America.)
I thought about that movie when I saw this new report from the Small Arms Survey about weapons in Ukraine.
Shortly after the war broke out, I wrote a post about Ukraine’s offer to distribute firearms to its civilians. (But LinkedIn‘s archive function is absolute garbage so I republished it on my website, here.)
If you’re interested in the issue, you can find the report here.