The past decade has seen an increase in the intensity of violence on civilians globally. The uncontrolled spread and availability of small arms and munitions contribute to this violence. Small arms and ammunition are regularly stolen and trafficked across borders and traded on the black market, fueling more armed conflicts against civilians.  

Weapons and ammunition are often stored near built-up areas. If there is an unplanned explosion, the consequences can be devastating: mass death and injury, the destruction of homes, schools, and community infrastructure.

Improving the quality of storage facilities and destroying obsolete weapons and ammunition removes the chance of accidents and harm. It also supports sustainable development and enables a greater opportunity for sustainable peace.

Our weapons and ammunition work establishes security measures to reduce the risk of small arms being stolen and misused. Simple, lockable small arms and gun racks produced locally according to MAG designs are a key part of our armory rehabilitation. Record-keeping is also an essential component of weapons management and we encourage people to be accountable for weapons assigned to them.

Marking weapons according to regional and international standards plays an important role in addressing the black market and promoting safer cities and communities. We train people on how best to do this and how to utilize weapon database management.

Safe and accountable destruction methods ensure that all the working parts of a weapon are unusable and that the ammunition is completely destroyed so it cannot cause harm.

MAG has developed a range of capacity development and training courses tailored to national and regional contexts. We work with partners and national authorities to design, develop, and implement their national small arms action plans.