WASHINGTON — More than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. came through unlicensed dealers who aren’t required to perform background checks over a five-year period, according to new data released Thursday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted from 1991 to 2002, and left 75,000 people dead. Weapons of all sorts were shipped to all sides in both Sierra Leone, and Liberia from abroad. These included small arms, such as, pistols, assault rifles, grenades, Claymores, knives, machetes, etc. Larger weapons such as missiles, light machine guns, mortars, anti-tank missiles, tanks, and planes were also used. Leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, Charles Taylor, helped to create the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone.
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In Villarreal’s case, the ATF was able to trace several of the guns found in Reynosa back to a 49-year-old Oklahoma City man named Richard Pond, who records showed had bought 221 guns over the previous two years. When ATF agents knocked on his door, Pond confessed he’d been “straw purchasing” or buying guns on Villarreal’s behalf. Those seven guns became part of an investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), which traced the Reynosa weapons and dozens of others back to their original buyers in Oklahoma City. The trail led to two men who were using the web, including a site called Armslist—the so-called Craigslist of Guns—to find whatever Villarreal wanted.
Secure Firearm Purchase Without FFL, Permit Or License
Of the 811 listings, 41 percent were for firearms; 27 percent were for arms-related digital products; and 22 percent were for ammunition. The most common firearms sold were pistols (84 percent) while rifles and submachine guns made up 10 and 6 percent of the listings, respectively. Roughly three-fifths of the weapons sold on a selection of dark web marketplaces originate from the United States, according to a new study examining the scope of the internet’s black market arms trade. In February 2023, the Department issued Volume II of the NFCTA, Crime Gun Intelligence and Analysis, which presents and analyzes data on crime guns (firearms used in crime) recovered between 2017 and 2021. The analysis reinforces the critical importance of ATF’s unique crime gun tracing authority and highlights the value of data from ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) program.
In April 2024, the Department issued Volume III of the NFCTA, Firearm Trafficking Investigations, which examines 9,708 closed ATF firearm trafficking investigations initiated between CY 2017 and 2021. The research is aimed at informing policymakers and police about how to plug gaps in the nation’s firearms laws. He said some of the interviewees spoke of illegal firearm suppliers having “huge caches” of guns, including pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles. Professor Bright said many in the criminal underworld were enticed by the “thrill” of owning and using a firearm, while others told how their ability to access guns quickly enhanced their reputation among fellow criminals. Some interviewees told how people without criminal records, known as “cleanskins”, were tasked with buying guns for criminals.
Crime Guns
The analysis reinforces the critical importance of ATF’s unique crime gun tracing authority and highlights the value of data from ATF’s NIBIN program. Volume IV, compiled after years of research by leading experts from both law enforcement and academia, delivers updated findings and trends that highlight how firearms reach criminal actors. “The data shows, therefore, that those who illegally traffic firearms whether its out of a trunk, at a gun show or online are responsible for real violence in this nation,” Dettelbach said. “In short, you can’t illegally help to arm violent people and not be responsible for the violence that follows,” he said.
Prohibitions Create Black Markets And Cause Violent Crime
We’re back with another video in our Webz Insider video series on everything web data. Established in 2022, Torzon market is one of the biggest and most diverse marketplaces on the dark web. It is considered very secure thanks to strict user validations and transparent payment and vendor review procedures.
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Like Villarreal, he told the court that he’d fallen on hard times during the pandemic and was trying to make some extra cash by selling guns. There’s at least one other federal case aside from Villarreal’s where a seller on Armslist told investigators he was involved in shipping guns to Mexico. Army soldier, eventually pleaded guilty to illegally importing or manufacturing firearms and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. The disparity between gun laws in the two countries has contributed to American weapons falling into the hands of the world’s most violent criminal groups.
All Weapons Are Without Serial Numbers!!!
The data shows that people who “illegally traffic firearms, whether it’s out of a trunk, at a gun show or online, are responsible for real violence in this nation,” including hundreds of shootings, said ATF Director Steve Dettelbach. People who got them through unlicensed dealers bought 20 weapons on average, compared to 11 guns for straw buyers, according to the report. “The data shows, therefore, that those who illegally traffic firearms whether its out of a trunk, at a gun show or online are responsible for real violence in this nation,” Dettelbach said. “In short, you can’t illegally help to arm violent people and not be responsible for the violence that follows,” he said.
Global Synthetic Drug Markets: The Present And Future
A study by Rand Corporation found that weapons sold on the darknet are typically weapons that were already in the black market or weapons that were legally owned and then redirected to the darknet. According to the same study, the US was the most common country supplying markets. DarkOwl discovered arms for sale on darknet onion services hosted on the Tor anonymous network in English, Russian, German, and Chinese Mandarin.
The Relationship Between Drugs, Weapons, And Human Trafficking On The Darknet
- While recently scrolling through some of the illicit channels, the only ads to appear were links to rival shops.
- These claims are not backed by credible evidence and may be part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
- Quality and validity of the data it provides justify its higher cost over other marketplaces.
- Launched in 2018, the original TON network was abandoned in 2020 following a court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The interviews helped researchers identify six main channels through which underworld criminals circumvent Australia’s strict gun laws to purchase firearms illegally. The Biden administration has separately proposed a rule that would require thousands more gun sellers to get licensed and run background checks. The Justice Department says it’s aimed at sellers who are in the business of firearm sales, but the proposal quickly drew protest from gun-rights groups who contend it could ensnare regular people who sometimes sell their own guns. Gun trafficking and straw purchasing dangerously undermine states’ gun safety laws and drive the illegal firearms market. However, laws and regulations vary from state to state with most requiring a background check as well as other licenses to purchase more deadly weapons, especially fully automatic and semi-automatic rifles like AR-15s.
It is one of the most active and up to date markets and always provides new and updated malware and data. Established in 2019, Russian Market is a well-known and highly regarded data store on the dark web, specializing in the sale of PII and various forms of stolen data. Despite its name, the marketplace operates primarily in English and serves a global audience.
Strengthening Gun Laws And Regulations
These weapons fuel violence, crime, and conflict, posing significant challenges to public safety and global security. As early as June 2022, BBC reported that Russian state TV “routinely runs stories claiming Ukraine is selling weapons supplied by the West” on the dark web, a part of the internet not visible to search engines and home to online black markets. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, news reports have claimed weapons from the war in Ukraine were “finding their way to Finnish gangsters, French rioters, Nigerian fighters and the Mexican cartels.”
A June 2024 Harvard study acknowledged it was “highly likely that some weapons will go missing over the course of the conflict” but noted the difficulty in proving the extent of illicit sales. Mexican citizens have the right to bear arms in its constitution, but there’s only one gun store in the entire country. If you go, you must present six forms of identification—including proof of employment and have a clean criminal record—to purchase a gun. According to the Mexican government, 2,000 guns are smuggled into Mexico every single day. For years, if caught, straw buyers faced soft penalties but that changed in June of 2022, when President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
