Illicit home production of lightweight MAC/UZI type submachine guns and silencers uncovered in Brazil. Such weapons can fetch up to 13,000 BRL or the equivalent of around $2,500 USD when sold on the street.
A 9mm submachine gun designed to be ultra compact and use the least number of parts possible. Nearly all components are made from square tubing including a one piece push trigger which is operated with the user’s thumb.
An illegally made loose copy of the 9mm Sterling submachine gun used during a shootout between a gang and police last month in Rautahat. A number of these have showed up in Maoist arms caches. Sometimes refereed to locally as a ‘desi sten’.
A handmade revolver and improvised ammunition seized by police in Nepal.
A Nigerian hunter displays a cross over from traditional materials to a more makeshift utilitarian take on things through the use of welding & scrap iron.
A number of homemade SMGs based on the 2nd of PA Luty’s widespread DIY designs have recently began appearing in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Along with a myriad of decades old locally produced designs, information available via the Internet has evidently began to disseminate there.
Small Arms Survey have released a new paper documenting the widespread illegal production of improvised / craft-made firearms across Nigeria. The study found that these weapons account for around 32 per cent of firearms-related crime in Adamawa state to a staggering 69 per cent in Plateau state. Along with exploding crime rates, the demand for firearms to equip community defense groups increased drastically following the Boko Haram insurgency with many having to resort to equipping themselves with locally produced weapons such as ‘dane guns’ (Locally hand-made muzzleloading percussion-lock long-guns) and break barrel shotgun copies long used by traditional hunting and tribal groups. More recently illicit gunsmiths have progressed to producing more sophisticated weapons including submachine guns and self-loading pistols utilizing simple sheet metal fabrication methods. Like swords and bows & arrows, firearms are simple devices dating back 800 years which can be produced by anyone and aren’t going to ever go away.
