This briefing aims to clarify and highlight ways in which the spread, possession and (mis)use of SALW and related armed violence issues can be relevant in conflict assessments, and how they can be integrated better within such assessments. It employs the conflict assessment framework set out in DFID¿s conflict assessment guidelines, and thus aims particularly to assist people who may be: commissioning and developing terms of reference for a specific assessment; undertaking a desk-based and/or field assessment; and those taking forward the analysis to the development of programming responses. There already exists the potential for SALW issues to be addressed within DFID¿s existing conflict assessment guidelines, and thus this paper does not suggest that DFID¿s methodology has to change but rather `opened-up¿ to include SALW more fully within their analyses and the strategies they generate.