A call has been made to the government to legalise the manufacture of small arms in the country and bring them under state control as a way of averting their illicit acquisition by criminals. Reacting to the current resolve of the police to take the war against armed robbery to blacksmiths who manufacture arms locally, a leader of the blacksmiths association in the Ashanti Region and a researcher into small arms suggested as an alternative that the state could provide livelihood for the blacksmiths, such as the production and sale of farm equipment, to discourage them from the arms trade. The Secretary of the Ashanti Regional Association of Blacksmiths (ARABs), Mr Philip Kwasi Nsiah, told the Daily Graphic that instead of criminalising the trade, it would be better to sustain and develop the craftsmanship, which Ghanaians acquired centuries ago for the benefit of the nation. He described as an exercise in futility the attempt to clamp down on blacksmiths and pointed out that "for every one blacksmith arrested, there are thousands of others in the bush who manufacture local arms". According to him, the solution to the proliferation of locally-manufactured arms did not lie in police arrests of blacksmiths in view of the increasing demand for such weapons and the lucrative nature of the business. Mr Nsiah, therefore, stressed the need for the Government to legalise the manufacture of local arms in order to ensure their effective regulation, as well as check their proliferation and patronage by armed robbers. The Blue Eagle Unit of the Ghana Police Service recently raided a gun-manufacturing base at Breman Anhwiam in the Central Region and seized 30 assorted weapons in the process. The action was part of police efforts at fighting violent crime by tracing the source of weapons used by armed robbers. In Accra, the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio Atinga, said the police had realised that most of the armed robbers arrested recently wielded locally manufactured weapons such as six and eight-round revolvers, pistols, and shotguns. She said some Ghanaian blacksmiths had used their ingenuity to produce sophisticated guns similar to imported ones, which are sold to the armed robbers to carry out their criminal activities. Through long years of practice, the local blacksmiths have developed the craft of manufacturing very sophisticated arms, from single-barrelled guns and double-barrelled guns to revolvers. According to the police, such arms are largely patronised by armed robbers, expressing the belief that combating the production of those weapons would enhance the fight against armed robbery. Expressing a view on the issue, a researcher on small arms, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, agreed with the leader of the blacksmiths association that unless the blacksmiths were supported to do something more productive than the manufacture of guns, they would not abandon the lucrative arms business. Mr Sowatey said no single country could fight the proliferation of small arms, hence the need for a concerted effort to address the problem. When the question of the capacity of blacksmiths in producing sophisticated weapons was put to Mr Nsiah, he responded, "I don't think you have seen any of our work. Practice makes a man perfect. I know how to do them very well, but because of what is happening, I don't do them". He said ARABs, with a membership of more than 500, frowned on the manufacture of local arms, adding that the association had set up a task force which monitored and reported recalcitrant blacksmiths to the police. There are suggestions among security sources that with the legalisation of locally manufactured arms, the blacksmiths could be mobilised to produce arms for the security services instead of the latter importing the weapons from other countries. While endorsing those suggestions, Mr Nsiah said with a little training, local blacksmiths could manufacture arms to meet the standard of the imported weapons. He indicated that it was important to provide alternative livelihoods for blacksmiths to make the manufacture of small arms less attractive. Sharing his thoughts on the issue, Mr Sowatey observed that the proliferation of small arms in the country could be traced to five main sources. These are locally manufactured arms; weapons smuggled into the country by land and sea; guns leaked from state armoury, guns brought into the country by security personnel on their return from peacekeeping operations abroad, and leaks from licensed dealers as a result of poor record keeping. He said in other instances, people acquired guns just to show the man in them, for personal protection and as a result of the failure of the police to guarantee their security and safety. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana