Albert Einstein made a famous prediction before his death. 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,' he said, 'but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.'
During his lifetime, the threat of imminent mass destruction loomed large. Nuclear weapons were a new element in man's history which - for the first time - could easily see the end of man.
But today, fears over hair-trigger nuclear strikes have dissipated. And it is tempting to think that maybe the weapons that Einstein couldn't name are small arms.
Albert Einstein made a famous prediction before his death. 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,' he said, 'but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.'
During his lifetime, the threat of imminent mass destruction loomed large. Nuclear weapons were a new element in man's history which - for the first time - could easily see the end of man.
But today, fears over hair-trigger nuclear strikes have dissipated. And it is tempting to think that maybe the weapons that Einstein couldn't name are small arms. Because around the world, people are affected every day - through death and injury - by these weapons. Just ask the families of the 750,000 people killed by them last year.
And they spread their influence well beyond wars. Of that 750,000, around two thirds were killed in non-conflict situations. In other words, small arms kill more people 'on the street than the battlefield'.
In this edition of NATO Review, we talk to the people who are experts in this area. And one theme that most of them come back to is that keeping better tabs on where the weapons are, how they are transported and stored is key. This will not only help to keep the weapons out of the hands of criminals, it will also reduce the number of accidents that nearly every region of the world (including many NATO countries) have seen when munitions stockpiles explode.
What's clear is that - as with most tasks - better international coordination would make a difference. Those who trade in illicit weapons find it easy to dive between the cracks of different administrations and regulations. We have an article from the UN on how they are tackling this.
Finally, we have a piece from a young consultant whose article won a recent international competition. In it, she makes a compelling case for a greater focus on how the harm done by small weapons often ends up affecting more women than men.
Small arms may not have the high profile of weapons of mass destruction, but their silent, daily destruction of many people's lives is proving almost as deadly.
Paul King