African Machine Gun Market

More work from Kaj and Christof in Somalia:
http://current.com/items/mogadishu-madness/76377322

this is an awesome pod, nicely done.

and they most likly overpriced the guns a lot since your white

150 for an AK! dang.. I spent close to 400 for mine..

The issue of violent civil instability cannot be solved by addressing simply "gun issues". Violent civil instability is usually a bi-product of oppression in some fashion...so who should have the guns?
The solution is for an evolution of ALL humans to insist on non-violent diplomacy. Make it shameful and intolerable to commit acts of violence on other humans. Is it not already? I would say no based on our current warmongering cultures.
And I ask...are guns really THE issue? Because I can recall plenty of civil unrest before the guns were around. Ya know...back in the good ol days when we got up close and personal with swords, machetes, and pikes?
History has proven time and again that if you take the small arms away from the populace it just opens the door to dictatorship style oppression, further separation of the social classes, and blatant abuses of "executive" power.
For crying out loud people...we still haven't evolved past entertaining ourselves by watching 2 people beat the shit out of eachother....what does THAT say about humans as a collective?
Watch this video and ask yourself again...Who should have the guns?
http://current.com/items/88859774_marine_throws_puppy_from_a_cliff

Excellent pod - took guts for you guys to get right in the middle of that. Glad you got out when you did, though!

Great pod.

$150, that is commendable that you filmed this. Scary that its an open market that is easily accessible. AK-47s kill people. I wonder how many US citizen people or students have connections?? too many

Awesome pod, Imagine a market like that in America, scary.

A weapon is an inanimate object that only becomes animate if a human decides to use it.
weapons are not violent...until in the hands of a violent person....and you know it.
They were hacking each other up with machetes long before the guns arrived.

when humans want to kill each other they will do it by any means possible... be it throwing spears... or Nukes.

There is a lot of that going on in our neck of the woods too. Border cities, such as Reynosa, have had a strong military presence lately. Great classic pod.

Great pod. but its not AK-47s that kill people, it is PEOPLE who kill people!

I think this pod lacked journalistic punch. If you're going to claim that small arms are the root of instability, you need to back it up with more than breathless astonishment at being in a gun market in Somalia. Personally I think that the type of small arms proliferation you observed is linked to instability but does not cause it. As others have pointed out, armed conflict is as old as humankind, guns or no. Your bio says you're from DC, a city that has both extreme gun control laws and high rates of gun violence. Of all people you should be able to see that there is more to controlling violence than controlling guns.

and they say americans shouldnt have the right to bear arms

Talk about some bravery. Thats one neck of the woods i wouldn't want to find myself in.

There are American guns there! Where do they get them?

Great piece, but it would be nice to be more honest about the local "real" price of those guns. 150 USD for an AK, but what is the average Somali wage? How long would someone need to work before they could afford to buy one?

amazing. a Russian or Chinese made fully automatic AK-47 in the us would cost you about $1100. there it is 150.

I'm sure the $150 was for the stupid americans. The price for a Somali was probably in the $40 range.

I think these guys should check out a gun show if they want to see lots of guns. Any town in the U.S. will have a gun show and have 10x the number of guns they just saw. And yes, you can buy an AK47 at one if you want.