Access to Weapons Hinder Peace Efforts

While reading about Tony Horwitz's journey through the middle east in his book, Baghdad Without a Map, one thing that I especially noticed was the excess of guns. I think that America as a nation thinks of the Middle East as a violent, dangerous, ticking time bomb. This notion is reinforced by the apparent abundance of guns. In fact, the Yemen diplomat in Baghdad thought "there are more weapons per capita in Yemen than in any other country on earth" (29-30). This is amazing. In the United States today we despair about the amount of weapons and guns available to teenagers, worrying that someday another Columbine will happen. Imagine a place where everyone, well all men, have 2 or more guns, all readily and cheaply available. In Yemen, any man can buy a firearm, provided he has the money; a scary situation. How can a nation, riddled with a corrupt government and no lack of military power, hope to establish a lasting peace? If weapons are so commonplace that regular households have many, how will Yemen, and other Arabian countries, ever become non-violent? If the United States is to complete their goal of establishing stability in the Middle East, they will have to find a way to remove the easy access to weapons. gr