By Anne-Séverine Fabre, Nicolas Florquin, and Matt Schroeder

The trafficking of firearms and their use in criminal violence in Europe has received significant attention from researchers and policymakers. Less is known, however, about the illicit proliferation of firearm ammunition and other explosive munitions. Currently, detailed data on illicit munitions in Europe can only be accessed through specialized law enforcement agencies. National seizure statistics often lack the necessary detail for policy-relevant analysis, as do the media reports, which often include incomplete or inaccurate information on the types and calibres of ammunition.

Illicit firearms ammunition and other explosive munitions in the European Union—a new paper from the Small Arms Survey, as part of the INSIGHT project—provides a regional analysis and overview of the types, sources, and end users of these items, and addresses the need for detailed, policy-relevant data on illicit munitions in Europe.

Geneva, SWIT: Small Arms Survey, 2023. 24p.

By: Anne-Séverine Fabre, Nicolas Florquin, Matt Schroeder, and Andrea Edoardo Varisco

Improvements in technology and information sharing have transformed PMFs from crude, impractical homemade devices of limited value to most criminals into highly functional weapons that are increasingly viewed as viable substitutes for factory-built firearms. The effectiveness of national and international small arms control regimes are gradually being eroded; the lack of serial numbers on such weapons, for example, undermines tracing efforts that have been a cornerstone of investigations.

Privately Made Firearms in the European Union—a new paper from the Small Arms Survey, as part of the INSIGHT project—examines the emerging threat that privately made firearms and their illicit proliferation pose within Europe.

Brussels: Flemish Peace Institute, Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2023. 18p.

Edited by Francesca Gaili and Anne Weyembergh

To several governments, modern international terrorism cannot be handled adequately within the ordinary criminal justice system. To fight terrorism (including the criminalization of certain “abstract danger”, preparatory activities such as terrorist training, membership in a terrorist organization) more effectively, criminal law had to be adapted.

Bruxelles: \ Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles ,2012. 320p.