Advocates of firearms prohibition and other restrictive laws often state that every year around the world, five hundred thousand people are killed by small arms and light weapons (SALW)—most of which are owned by civilians. The statistic of half a million people killed by “firearms” or by SALW is the most widely cited statistic by advocates of international weapons control. Such advocates promise that disarming civilians will dramatically reduce these deaths.

When one carefully examines the data behind the “500,000” factoid, however, the issue appears more complex. First of all, the data simply does not support the “half a million” factoid. This myth has gained strength through repetition, but following the claim to its origin leads to the same observation that Gertrude Stein made about Oakland: “there is no there there.”

Moreover, the simplistic agglomeration of all SALW into a single total, with all deaths in that total presumed to be caused by overabundance of firearms in civilian hands, evades consideration of essential policy issues on firearms control. For example, how many deaths from “armed conflicts” are the result of aggression against civilians by governments and government agents? How many of these deaths result from resistance to government abuse by innocent citizens fighting to protect their human rights? How many deaths from homicides and suicides in “peaceful” countries would have been prevented if civilian access to small arms could be reduced, or even eliminated?