Domestic Gun Control and International Small Arms Control in Africa

This book, based on field research in the West African country of The Gambia, explores how domestic gun control is shaped by international efforts and how local actors interact with international organizations or opt not to do so. The book also shows how the question of who can have what kind of gun under what circumstances is an intrinsic question to modern societies across the world, but it is seldom one that is addressed in sub-Saharan Africa except in cases of post-conflict countries. Small arms control and gun control are often treated as separate efforts, with the former the domain of international actors such as the United Nations and the latter being of concern to the domestic politics of countries such as the United States. By focusing on a country that has never seen the outbreak of a civil war, the book is able to disentangle the complex roots of gun control in Africa, its origins in colonial era legislation, its reverberations across social life, and how it shapes contemporary understandings of groups ranging for security guards to hunters. Niklas Hultin is Assistant Professor in the Global Affairs Program at George Mason University, USA Acknowledgments Contents List of Tables 1 Introduction Ousman the Hunter Toward a Social Theory of Gun Control The Global in Global Gun Control The Anthropology of Small Arms Control in the Gambia References 2 Guns and the International Community Introduction The Imperial Origins of Small Arms Control Small Arms Control from World War I Through the Cold War The Modern Small Arms Control Movement from the 1990s Conclusion References 3 How Gun Control Comes to The Gambia The Civil Servants Gambian Gun Control Law The Gambia, the United Nations, and Small Arms Control The Gambia, ECOWAS, and the National Commission Against the Proliferation of Small Arms Conclusion References 4 Gun Control from “None but Gentlemen” to “a Culture of Responsible Gun Ownership” “How They Got Their Guns” Guns and Class: The UK Example Gun Control and Race in the United States The Responsibilization of Gun Ownership in South Africa Conclusion References 5 Police, Guards, and Hunters: The Distribution of Legitimate Violence in the Gambia Inspector Bojang Violence, Authority, and the Gambian State Private Guards and the Boundaries of Security Hunters, Violence, and Lethal Skill Who Owns a Gun in the Gambia? Conclusion References 6 The Sutural State and Individual Freedom: The Symbolism of Gun Control Mbai the Magistrate Crime, Borders, and the Suture of Gun Control Gun Control Beyond the Gambian State Guns as Liberators, Guns as Freedom Tactical Lifestyle and Personal Autonomy Conclusion References 7 Conclusion: Sovereignty, Gun Control, and Global Practice A Most Dangerous Man Guns, the African State, and the Production of the “International” Gun Control, Legitimate Violence, and the State References Index