Methodology

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Our approach

There is a general lack of accessible, publicly available and non-specialist information on commonly used SALW in organized violence. SALW have become part of the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world, yet few people know the difference between a small arm and a light weapon, or that not all assault rifles are AK-47s. BICC aims to fill this gap by providing a non-specialist, user-friendly platform to learn the distinctions between different SALW categories and types; their whereabouts in the world; and where possible, by whom they are held.

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Methods and Definitions

The interactive SALW Guide is based on the Small Arms and Light Weapons Guide (2016), a printed handbook developed by the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) Verification Center (BwVC) to educate their field officers on common weapons used in organized violence around the world. It is not an exhaustive list of all SALW around the world.

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Tagging System

We believe that our Guide should be as transparent as possible without endangering the confidentiality of our sources. Rather than name the exact source for each unit of data, we have created tags so that users can at least know whether the data comes from a primary or secondary source, and by which medium it can or has been found. All incoming data is validated and then tagged by the project team at BICC before it enters our database.

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  • Interviews with experts, including radio or telephone
  • Legal proceedings
  • Speeches or interventions by experts or national representatives in government or international meetings

Etc ...

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  • Artifacts (e.g. the weapons themselves, ammunition)
  • Photographs of weapons, ammunition, etc.
  • Videos (e.g. YouTube, those recorded by mobile phone)
  • Television documentaries, news reports

Etc ...

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  • Fact books
  • Weapons Transfer authorizations
  • End-user certificates
  • Transcripts of interviews, legal proceedings, speeches/presentations, meetings, conferences or symposia
  • Newspaper articles
  • Written correspondence (e.g. letters, emails, text messages, etc.)
  • Blogs
  • Peer-reviewed journal articles
  • Treaties, constitution, laws
  • Records of organizations (e.g. annual reports)
  • Surveys, questionnaires

Etc...

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  • Speeches, panel presentations, etc. on data provided by experts

Etc...

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  • PowerPoint presentations on results found by experts

Etc...

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  • Wikipedia
  • Literature reviews
  • Training or safety manuals on gun control, ammunition, physical stockpile security management)
  • Minutes of meetings, conferences, symposia
  • Indexes (e.g. Global Militarization Index)
  • Newspaper articles

Etc.

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Information and data sources

Data Sources and Transparency

Data from the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) Verification Center (BwVC) is the foundation of this Guide, which has been validated by the literature and responses to a structured questionnaire that BICC sent to all national points of contact for the Programme of Action (PoA) on small arms and light weapons (see Methods).