Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Florquin, Nicolas, Dauren Aben and Takhmina Karimova. 2012 ‘Sources - Authorized trade.’ Blue Skies and Dark Clouds: Kazakhstan and Small Arms; Occasional Paper No. 29, pp. 16-17. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 May
Relevant contents
Sources - Authorized trade
At least 36 companies sell firearms and ammunition in Kazakhstan's civilian market(14). They sell a variety of pistols (such as the Steyr MA1); bolt-action rifles…
Due to Kazakhstan's relatively low capacity to produce small arms domestically, most weapons and ammunition sold in the country are imported. Available Customs data, as reported in the UN Comtrade database, suggests that Kazakhstan imports significantly more small arms than it exports (UN Comtrade, n.d.)(16). Trading partners reported that Kazakhstan imported close to USD 100 million worth of small arms and ammunition (civilian and military) for the period 1992–2008. Yet reported Kazakh exports for the same period amounted to just USD 2 million (see Table 1; UN Comtrade, n.d.)(17).
Reported Kazakh imports consist for the most part of sporting and hunting shotguns, rifles, and small arms ammunition - categories usually destined for the civilian market (see Table 1). Reports to the UN Register of Conventional Arms confirm this trend, as the largest imports of equipment by quantity for the years 2008–10 concerned hunting weapons (UNODA, n.d.; see Table 2).
In 2009, Kazakhstan imported a variety of hunting and sporting rifles from countries including Italy (243, 308, 300 Winchester and 30.06 SPR 9.2 x 62), the Russian Federation (MP 161K calibre 22LR, Vepr carbines, Saiga, Tiger, Sobol, Korshun, CM-2KO, Bars-4-1, Los, and Biathlon-7-3, 7-4), and Czech Republic and Germany (various other models) (UNODA, n.d.).
Sources cited:
14) See the list of companies at Koramsak (n.d.).
16) This comparison and the discussion and tables below rest on UN Comtrade data as downloaded by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT). The Small Arms Survey sent its analysis of UN Comtrade data to Kazakhstan's Committee for Customs Control on 28 July 2011 with a request for any comments or clarification. The Committee responded that information related to arms transfers was considered a 'state secret' and was therefore confidential (author correspondence with the Committee for Customs Control, 28 August 2011).
Note also that Kazakhstan appears to have withdrawn its submissions from the UN Comtrade database in late 2010; this data is still accessible via the NISAT project, which regularly downloads and saves information (see NISAT, n.d.).
17) While this section focuses on civilian-held weapons, data on military weapons is reflected in the tables for informative purposes and to provide a comprehensive overview of available information.
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