This volume of The Reference Shelf focuses on the National Forensics League’s (NFL) 2019-2020 National Debate Topic, Arms Sales. America’s arms-sales policy directs both commercial sales (DCS) and foreign military sales (FMS) and can be viewed as either a key tool of foreign policy and national security or as a practice that results in the opposite of its intent: increased terrorism, instability, and advanced military technology ending up in the hands of hostile forces. Does the current policy encourage nation-building and maintain military balance among nations? Would a reduction in arms sales by the United States simply be filled by a competing power such as Russia or China? Are human-rights violations overlooked when selling arms to countries that are strategically important to U.S. defense? What would be the effect on the U.S. economy if arms sales are reduced? These are some of the issues that will be raised in this important debate.

History - Economics of the arms trade - Arms and foreign policy - The wrong hands: Arms deals, war, and terror - The human cost.