Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

In his 20-year career as a journalist, Iain Overton has worked in more than 80 countries. From troubled hotspots such as Iraq, Somalia and Colombia to places such as Brazil and Turkey — this is a man who has seen the world.

So when Overton decided to write his first book, covering the contentious topic of guns, it was perhaps not a surprise that he wanted it to be “international”. Specifically, he didn’t want to cover only one country that tends to dominate the debate on guns: “I didn’t want it to be America, America, America!” he tells Weekend Review. “Because most people — when they talk of gun control and guns — immediately talk of America.”

I met Overton inside a busy café in London. Sitting at a table next to the window, there is a clear view of the street outside. Pedestrians walk by enjoying the cool summer breeze. The barista occasionally comes to collect empty cups and clean the tables as I listen to Overton.

“I have seen guns outside America causing untold harm and yet very little is spoken about it,” he says. “People don’t write about inter-country smuggling between Burundi and Congo. They don’t talk about Liberian guns in the hands of child soldiers. They don’t talk about the proliferation of American guns coming south of the border into Central America and Mexico. And really my book is an attempt to globalise the debate around guns, to place America within that debate.”

FiremanBob wrote:Legalize drugs in the US (like gambling, prohibit non-citizens and anyone with certain felony records from participating) and all the money and guns flowing into Latin America dry up. But you can't blame guns for the thugocracies and anarchists in failed states in the many uncivilized areas of the world.