Figure 1 – Differences and similarities between firearms and trafficked drugs This issue paper will analyze the linkages between firearms and drug trafficking by answering the following main research questions: • How does drug trafficking stimulate and facilitate firearms trafficking? • What are the direct and indirect linkages between the trafficking in firearms and the traffi- cking in drugs? •. [...] Available at: ta-and-analysis/Firearms/2020_REPORT_Global_Study_on_Firearms_Trafficking_2020_web.pdf 12 by the profits acquired from the trafficking of drugs15 and the culture of violence that often ac- companies and helps facilitate drug trafficking.16 These two aspects – the illicit drug market and the function and use of firearms – reinforce and mutually bene. [...] According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, the criminal vio- lence used in the illegal drug market in the country is primarily aimed at boosting the reputation of the perpetrators in their pursuit of status and power.22 An example of firearms being used as an enabler to acquire status was the shooting of a man in Sweden in 2019, which was captured in a photo. [...] In this region, the majority of illicit arms being trafficked come from older stockpiles of weapons that have moved from one place to another, rather than from the direct diversion from the legal to illicit sphere.89 It is because of movements such as this, and the durability of the firearm, that often the country of manufacture of the firearm(s) is far removed from the country of seizure. [...] Prior to the year 2000, the principal form of trafficking in the region of West Africa involved the export of natural resources for cash or weapons – to satisfy the demand for firearms created by conflicts in the region – while drug trafficking amounted to a negligible amount of the overall profits generated by criminals.
- Pages
- 52
- Published in
- Austria
