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Hey all,
I'm in a game where I am trying to stabilize and protect a large area from a multitude of threats. While I have a company sized force armed with FN FAL variants, MG3 machineguns, MGL6 variants and Carl Gustav rocket launchers. I would like to arm the civilians in the area I control in a way similar to the Peruvian Ronda Campesina.

Now as I am arming both the men and the women I can't simply hand out 10,000 Winchester shotguns along with a case of ammo and call it good. I would like ideas as to things that would be appropriate for both men and women to use. Full Auto is not needed but if it's available so be it. I'm looking for more "Defensive arms" than things useful for "Offensive" purposes.

The South Africans handed out hundreds of 9mm submachine guns that had been modified to semi-auto only.

From a long barrel a 9mm can be effective out to 100m or so and the light weight of the weapons is very user friendly.

Cheap ammo means lots of chances to practice and large mags means lots of follow up shots if you miss the first time.

the problem with 9mm carbines is range.

Most of those Ronda Campesina in real life are issued 12 gauge shotguns. Because their effective range is so short the Sendro Luminoso can sit back and pick them off from a distance. The problem is so bad that the Campesina are willing to pay the Peruvian Army blackmail prices for WWII era Mauser rifles in bad condition.

Something lightweight, Rifle caliber and capable of midranges shooting would be much better. Low price would also be a factor.

M1 Carbine or SKS then?

M1 Carbines (cheap), AR-15 clones (available), SKS (cheap)...but if you can handle the SKS recoil, you can handle the AK-47 (available). Depending on time period and your particular reality, you can get AK-74's or clones (not that available, or cheap...but reliable, and user friendly...sort of a middle ground between AR-15/M-16A2 and AK-47). Since you are not going to be putting on a lot of optics, the AK's and M1's might be the best choice (but the M1 carbines are not really that powerful, but more capable than 9mm).

Shotguns are not a bad investment, as you can make the case for their use as a hunting weapon, although recoil may be an issue. A standard pump action 12 gauge with 00 or 000 buckshot is an excellent weapon under 50m, and if have the time and money, some slugs might be a good investment.

Not really sure of the environment you are operating in, but I would be leery of over-engineering the solution (using US gear when Russian gear is cheaper and just as effective at the ranges usually encountered).

-STS

don't even go SKS.. you can get Mosin-Nagant's fairly cheaply on the global market due to warehouses of the things being auctioned off. many of which can be obtained still in the crates they were stored in half a century before. clean off the grease (boy is there a lot of grease used) and your good to go. and they are still in production for civilian use in various nations. would be easy to obtain a few hundred of the things, all the more so in that you could obtain them through legitimate sources (though you'd want to have multiple front companies doing it for security). it's ammunition is also fairly common and easy to obtain.

as a bolt action rifle it is a bit slow firing, but it is an ideal marksman rifle due to its rugged design, high accuracy, and the fact most are manufactured with long range ladder sights.

Another possibility is Ruger Mini-14 rifles in .222 Remington. Since it is not a "Military Caliber" you can Honestly say that you are handing out "Hunting Rifles" to every household as part of a "Hearts & Minds" operation.

The M1 Carbine works really well if there is US backing. They were pretty common in South America as a COIN weapon. As far as Wiki is concerned both Peru and Chili used carbines in the past, so ammo etc could be "around".

The Mini-14 works, and makes more sense as a non-US backed operation, since they are not already sitting in storage.

My guess is your game moved on months ago, but I figured I would throw in my 2 cents anyway.

So a South African Merc. Company called Executive Outcomes (I think), fought in Central-Africa against a rebel-force; they used Soviet-era weapons as that was what the rebels were using to save on the logistics of ammo etc. Maybe your force should use what the enemy is using?