ABSTRACT
Security from the threat of aggression from other human groups remains the principal goal of nation-states. The distinction between the lawful use of weaponry within a society for the purpose of maintaining law and order and the retention of weapons as a deterrence or a defence against aggression from another society remains fundamental. When a global community emerges that maintains weapons exclusively for the sanctioned purpose of suppressing criminal acts, the species will have matured. So long as the peoples of the world are divided into sovereign groups, whether nation-states or regional blocs, the threat of “external” aggression remains and the inflationary push to possess weaponry with it.
