11/12: Public Lecture on Strategies For Reducing Small Arms Violence

November 3, 2009

Small arms and light weapons, readily available at low cost, concealable, and low maintenance, are often referred to as “weapons of mass destruction, in slow motion.” The international community is now fully engaged in trying to reduce and prevent the violence perpetrated worldwide using these deadly tools. 

On November 12, newly-appointed Gordon Paul Smith Chair in International Policy Studies Edward J. Laurance will trace the growth of small arms violence and discuss the approaches being taken by governments, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations to end it.  Professor Laurance, former dean of the Institute’s international policy studies school, will present “The Global Scourge Of Armed Violence: Can Anything Be Done?” on November 12 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm in the Irvine Auditorium in the McCone Building at 499 Pierce Street, Monterey.  This event is free and open to the public.

The Gordon Paul Smith Chair in International Studies is named for former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Monterey Institute Gordon Paul Smith.  Mr. Smith previously served as the director of finance for the State of California, as a member of 12 state boards and commissions, and as a founding member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.  Mr. Smith was  named “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” by the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce in 1992, received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Monterey Institute the same year, and is a trustee emeritus of the Institute.

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