Illicit Gun Markets and Firearms Acquisition of Terrorist Networks in Europe

In recent years, firearms have become the weapons most frequently used by terrorists in Europe. Most terrorists acquire these firearms on the illicit gun market. Despite this observation, little is known about the networks used by terrorists to acquire firearms, which is part of a larger problem of scarcity of data and in-depth research on illicit firearms trafficking in Europe.

This EU financed project SAFTE (Studying the Acquisition of Illicit Firearms by Terrorists in Europe) aimed to improve knowledge of and expertise in:

• illicit firearms markets in the EU
• the networks used by terrorists to access these markets
• the policies that have been developed, at national and EU level, aimed at preventing and combatting this phenomenon

Research results and recommendations of the project were recently published and are now available on the SAFTE website.