Introduction to IPPNW's One Bullet Story

All over the world, people die of injuries caused by small arms - innocent bystanders, women, children - small arms are indiscriminate. IPPNW's campaign "Aiming for Prevention" seeks to prevent these horrible injuries by provoking political and social change. For this purpose, hard facts are needed. Recent publications against small arms have raised concern over the scarcity of evidence-based research on the effects of firearms on poverty reduction strategies, improvement of health and other Millennium Development Goals.

Anti-small arms campaigners are criticized for failing to make their message simple and explicitly relevant to decision makers and in effect spending too much time talking amongst themselves. A recent report on small arms cites the following as some of the methods that can be used to engage the public, the media and politicians:

• Talk about people rather than weapons
• Talk about bullets rather than 'small arms'
• Talk about reducing violence, conflict and insecurity rather than the number of weapons

The IPPNW project One Bullet Stories is about the people, about their stories and about the suffering caused by guns. We aim to bring the Human Face into the campaign against small arms, highlighting the plight of the victims through their own testimony. More than cold statistics, these human stories can really convince people of the necessity for small arms abolition.

Click here to find out more about the campaign

Click here to read a One Bullet Story