This report examines 9,708 closed ATF firearm trafficking investigations initiated between CY 2017 and 2021. In April 2021, Attorney General Garland directed the ATF to undertake its first comprehensive study of criminal gun trafficking, the intentional movement of one or more firearms into the illegal market for a criminal purpose or possession. Unlicensed gun dealers sold at least 68,388 firearms into the black market between 2017 and 2021, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said Thursday. Those guns represent 54% of illegally trafficked firearms recovered in that period. Another 40% involved illegal “straw purchases” for someone unable to pass a federal background check.
The global black market for guns continues to thrive, driven by smuggling networks, unregulated 3D-printed firearms, and weak 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.” The interviews helped researchers identify six main channels through which underworld criminals circumvent Australia’s strict gun laws to purchase firearms illegally.
Buy Guns Online: Trusted Firearms For Sale
Arguably, the most well-known source of revenue for organized crime is drug trafficking. DarkOwl analysts have previously released a report detailing the presence of alleged cartel-affiliated marketplaces on the darknet and detailed some of their product offerings including sophisticated concealed shipping. To address this crisis, governments and international organizations must collaborate on stricter regulations, technological advancements, and targeted enforcement efforts. By tackling the supply chains and loopholes that enable the illegal arms trade, we can take meaningful steps toward reducing the devastating impact of black-market guns on communities worldwide. In their efforts to stop this illegal gun trafficking, federal agents often monitor social media to identify potential straw buyers. The majority of the illegal guns in Canada used to be smuggled across the border from the U.S., but that seems to be changing.
Due to its extensive inventory and reputation for reliability, Brian’s Club has maintained a significant presence on the dark web. Quality and validity of the data it provides justify its higher cost over other marketplaces. The platform’s popularity continues to grow, attracting both new and returning customers. Valued at approximately $15 million, Abacus Market is one of the most lucrative platforms in the dark web ecosystem. In 2024, the platform grew significantly in popularity, partly because of its strategic acquisition of users from a number of recently shut-down marketplaces, such as AlphaBay and Incognito Market, which had recently closed their doors. Last year, the Bavarian State Criminal Police concluded that Munich rampage-shooter David Sonboly, 18, purchased a 9mm Glock 17 through a dark web marketplace.
Drug Trafficking And Weapons – Connections To Organized Crime And The Darknet
This made me wonder how many of the guns going to criminals are coming from small-time mugs like Brady using straw purchasers. Though Brady was technically the head of an interstate gunrunning operation, he was really just a smalltime crook with a stupid plan to drive a trunk load of guns from Alabama to New York City. “They’re selling it, and a lot of it ends up with the drug cartels on our border,” Carlson said. In July 2022, according to court records, federal agents discovered a massive gun smuggling operation with ties to the Mexican cartel inside a home in southwest Arlington. In a 2022 BBC report, journalists went undercover on the dark web to debunk accusations made by Russian state media about Ukraine’s purported illicit weapons sales.
Police Cancel City Council Meeting Due To Safety Concerns
According to UNODC, most of the drugs sold in the darknet ship from North America and Europe. The most common country of origin or country of shipment from greatest to least were listed as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. The legitimacy of arms for sale on the darknet is widely debated by darknet communities. As is typical on the darknet, many state that any listings of weapons for sale on Tor are scams.
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It was the first big site where people could anonymously buy drugs using Bitcoin, and it gained a lot of attention, until it was shut down by the FBI in 2013. Illicit firearms also contribute to political conflict and instability in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The second-highest share of firearm-trafficking cases investigated by ATF was straw purchases, when someone buys a gun for a person who can’t get it legally themselves. Increased oversight of gun dealers is critical to prevent irresponsible and dangerous transfers of firearms.
Police also say 3D printers and other devices are being used to either make guns, or create parts that turn some firearms into automatic weapons capable of firing many more rounds a minute. Last December, police in Ontario busted a firearm manufacturing ring and confiscated so-called “ghost guns,” firearms assembled from parts obtained legally and without any serial numbers. Active for a decade since 2014, it is a widely used credit card shop used to source stolen credit card information such as dumps, CVVs, Wholesale Accounts. Some markets are invite-only or have strict registration rules to keep out scammers and law enforcement. Some fake sellers take your crypto and never ship what you ordered, or phishing sites that look like real marketplaces but steal your login info. And then there’s malware—click the wrong link or download the wrong file, and your device could get infected.
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Across a conference room table on the 35th floor of a Manhattan high rise were three agents with decades of experience investigating gunrunning and other crimes for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). One of the many questions I wanted to answer in my book The Future of the Gun is where criminals really get guns. Department of Justice, more than 100 people had been charged with illegal firearm trafficking and straw purchasing. Gun traffickers transfer guns from legal commerce to illegal commerce and are considered to be violent criminals. In conclusion, there is no credible evidence that American weapons sent to Ukraine are ending up in Mexico, Syria, Gaza or any location outside of Ukraine, and claims otherwise may be attributed to Russian disinformation campaigns. The United States and Ukrainian governments have attempted strict oversight of their weapons — to mixed results — but any arms trafficking happening in Ukraine appears, as of this writing, to be contained to isolated incidents by criminals.
Newsweek Contributors Debate: Are Trump’s Deportations Effective?
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. Its focus on financial fraud and high-value transactions has attracted a dedicated user base, contributing to its growing reputation and market value.
- Some 12 percent of weapons found on a crime scene had been brought there by someone else.
- Users often do not know the real identity of the fellow users they are dealing with, and it is very difficult – although not impossible – for authorities to track them.
- In South Africa, the exact numbers of weapons lost and stolen from government departments and agencies are unknown.
- 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.
- A 2019 survey conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that some 43 percent of criminals had bought their firearms on the black market, 6 percent acquired them via theft, and 10 percent made a retail purchase – 0.8 percent purchased a weapon from a gun show.
- The first of its kind, a report from RAND Corporation details the ever-expanding role of the dark web in facilitating the sale of firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
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.
The Most Trusted Place To Buy Weapons !
TON aka Toncoin, notes Jiang, is Telegram’s “largest liquid asset on their balance sheet.” It accrues staking rewards from transaction fees and protocol issuance. In addition, there are “commercial agreements” whereby it earns more TON over time based on certain performance criteria, Jiang adds. Launched in 2018, the original TON network was abandoned in 2020 following a court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- “Gun violence is getting worse, there is more access to firearms,” Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told CBC News.
- Other sites advertise military-grade weapons that are typically not available to civilians, including anti-tank guided munitions (ATGMs), e.g.
- Still, Winkel says the proposals meant to stop it — including broadened background checks, licence verification and extended mandatory record-keeping by gun retailers that includes details of the gun and who bought it — would not be effective because the real issue is a lack of enforcement.
- It has built a reputation for being a reliable source of stolen credit card data and PII.
A recent national survey of prison inmates aged 18 to 40, published by Preventative Medicine, found that only one in 10 bought the firearm involved in the act that resulted in them being jailed. “What you’re saying is some of those missing guns are really just record-keeping errors? There have been no reports of Mexican criminal organizations deploying heavy U.S. artillery systems. He further alleged that the New York Times could “get on the web to order Ukrainian weapons” but again did not provide any direct evidence of where or how those weapons were allegedly being sold. Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. On Capitol Hill, Texas politicians have called for the U.S. to declare war on the cartels.
