Carrying guns

The United States loves its guns, boasting the highest civilian ownership in the world at 120 per 100 people. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly 47,000 Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2023, according to the Pew Research Centre.

America is also the biggest manufacturer of arms and ammunition. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 41 of the top 100 global weapons firms are American, generating revenues of $317 billion.

At home, firearms makers and their employees pay over $10.97bn annually in taxes, as per the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Deaths aside, the arms industry is embedded in the US economy.

Pakistan, too, ranks among the top 25 in civilian gun ownership. Official data is scarce, but the Small Arms Survey (2017) estimates 22 guns per 100 civilians, well above regional peers.

Unlike the US, however, Pakistan’s weapons sector is less commercial and more illicit. A study by the Centre for Governance Research notes that small and light arms fuel criminal groups, militants, and gangs.

This is reinforced by a deep-rooted “gun culture,” particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where carrying arms is customary.

Historically, illegal weapons have flowed in from Soviet stockpiles in Afghanistan, theft from US supply lines, local private manufacturers, and homemade workshops along the Afghan border.

Many of these weapons killed three and injured over a 100 in Karachi on this Independence Day alone, as per media reports. Civilian gun ownership contributes little to the economy, but the people end up paying with their lives.

Published in Brackly News, The Business and Finance Weekly, September 15th, 2025