[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 16, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10772-S10773]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Akaka):
  S. 1555. A bill to express the policy of the United States with 
respect to the adherence by the United States to global standards in 
the transfer of small arms and light weapons and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Security 
and Fair Enforcement in Arms Trafficking Act of 2001, cosponsored by 
Senators Leahy and Akaka.
  Small arms and light weapons, such as assault rifles, machine guns, 
grenades, and portable launchers of antiaircraft missile systems, are 
the weapons of choice for terrorists and their friends, and I fully 
believe that U.S. leadership is needed to stem the global torrent of 
illicit arms. All too often these arms fall into the hands of 
terrorists, drug cartels, and violent rebellions. Curbing the 
proliferation of these weapons must be a vital component of our efforts 
to combat international terrorism.
  The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, in fact, is due in no small 
part to the ready availability of these weapons in that war torn 
country, and Afghanistan clearly demonstrates how a country can become 
a threat to regional and global security if it is flooded with small 
arms and light weapons. The Taliban and the al Qaeda network were able 
to gather more than 10 million small arms and light weapons from a 
variety of sources over the past decade, including AK-47s, hand 
grenades, and Stinger missiles. Today the United States and its allies 
are faced with these very weapons as we move forward with Operation 
Enduring Freedom.
  The global networks of terrorism are clearly linked to the networks 
of the illicit arms trade and to the states that harbor terrorists, and 
terrorists around the globe also utilize the intertwined global 
networks of the illegal arms trade and the drug trade to generate 
financial resources for their destructive and threatening activities.
  As I have previously discussed on the floor, the global proliferation 
of small arms and light weapons is a staggering problem.
  An estimated 500 million illicit small arms and light weapons are in 
circulation around the globe.
  In the past decade, an estimated 4 million people have been killed in 
civil war and bloody fighting. Nine out of ten of these deaths are 
attributed to small arms and light weapons.
  The sheer volume of available weaponry has been a major factor in the 
devastation witnessed in recent conflicts in Angola, Cambodia, Liberia, 
Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Kosovo, among 
others, as well as the violence endemic to narco-trafficking.
  The increased access by terrorists, guerrilla groups, criminals, and 
others to small arms and light weapons poses a real threat to U.S. 
forces overseas. For the United States, as we now engage in the war on 
terrorism, this issue is a very real force protection issue.
  The conflicts fueled by small arms and light weapons undermine 
regional stability and endanger the spread of democracy and free 
markets around the world.
  Clearly this is a huge problem, with profound implications for U.S. 
security interests.
  I strongly believe that the U.S. Government must take the lead in the 
international community in addressing this issue. It is in the United 
States national interest to promote responsibility and restraint in the 
transfer of small arms and light weapons; to combat irresponsible 
practices in such transfers, to ensure that nations engaged in 
substandard practices are held accountable; to encourage other members 
of the international community to meet, as minimum standards U.S. law 
and practices; take strong action to negotiate and support making the 
trafficking of small arms traceable; bolster rules governing arms 
brokers; and eliminate the secrecy that permits millions of these 
weapons to circulate illicitly around the globe, fueling crime and war.
  As a matter of fact, as a major supplier country in the legal arms 
trade, the United States has a special obligation to promote 
responsible practices in the transfer of these weapons.
  That is what the Security and Fair Enforcement in Arms Trafficking 
Act of 2001 aims to do. It: Affirms U.S. policy to maintain the highest 
standards for the management and transfer of small arms and light 
weapons exports, and that it is U.S. policy to refrain from exports 
that could be used in internal repression, human rights abuses and 
international aggression; enforces the ban in international commercial 
transfers of military-style assault weapons and, improves end-use 
monitoring of U.S. arms transfers; urges the administration to enter 
into negotiations with the European Union and NATO member states, as 
well as other members of the international community to bring our 
allies into compliance with U.S. law and standards for the export and 
transfer of military-style assault weapons as well as on such critical 
issues as marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons, rules 
governing the conduct of arms brokers, and the enforcement of arms 
embargoes; calls on the administration to establish a U.S.-EU 
Coordinating Group on Small Arms, and to work to and implement and 
advance the Program of Action of the United Nations Conference on the 
Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects; 
improves the transparency of U.S. transfers in small arms and light 
weapons, and requires the establishment of a registry of all U.S. 
firearm exports; and, encourages all states that have not done so to 
ratify the OAS convention on small arms and light weapons.
  And let me be clear: This legislation does not interfere with 
legitimate and responsible transfers of small arms or the lawful 
ownership and use of guns in the United States.

[[Page S10773]]

  The United States needs to push hard to improve the international 
standards and the application of legally binding agreements to stem the 
illicit trade in these weapons. Fighting the proliferation of small 
arms is critical to our efforts to combat terrorism, narco-trafficking, 
international organized crime, regional and local war.
  I believe that combating the proliferation of small arms and light 
weapons is a critical element of the fight against terrorism, and I 
look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate and with the 
administration to pass the Security and Fair Enforcement in Arms 
Trafficking Act of 2001.
                                 ______