Research Note 11, Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria, provides ‘first-look’ analysis of more than 800 trades of small arms, light weapons, munitions, and blank-firing weapons conducted during a three-month period between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021. This short note is intended as the first step in an ongoing hybrid publications
Chuck Madurski A surprising—albeit subtle—variety of fixed polymer buttstocks were used on early AR-15/M16-series rifles. There are five basic types, although it does not appear that these ever received unique manufacturer’s designations. Collectors today know them as the Type A through Type E. These stocks were fitted to the Colt Models 601 through 604, and
Patrick Senft Editor’s note: This is the first instalment of a two-part series from ARES Research Assistant Patrick Senft, examining the history of ballistic shields in warfare. The second part of Mr. Senft’s research will be published in the near future, and will bring the story from the interbellum period up to present day, as
With the continuous development of artillery and as fragmenting artillery projectiles became the norm, fragments propelled by an explosive detonation became the most common cause of injury on the battlefield. During the asymmetric conflicts of the last decades, the widespread use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)—frequently designed with primary fragmentation in mind and typically generating
G. Hays & N.R. Jenzen-Jones The New South Wales Police force have charged a 32-year-old man in Sydney, Australia with firearms offences following a raid on a Newtown home on 22 September 2020. During the raid, a Glock-type self-loading pistol assembled using some 3D-printed components was seized along with a 3D printer, additional 3D-printed firearm
Matthew Moss On 15 August 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers took two Venezuelan nationals into custody at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. The two men were about to depart aboard a private jet loaded with a cache of firearms and ammunition. As a recent ARES report into the illicit online
G. Hays & N.R. Jenzen-Jones On 18 June 2020, at approximately 1752 local time, 18-year-old Andres Guardado was fatally shot by a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) after allegedly drawing a firearm. The shooting took place in the 400 block of Redondo Beach Boulevard, in the unincorporated Gardena area, outside Los
G. Hays On Tuesday 11 August 2020, police in New South Wales, Australia executed a search warrant on a home in the Sydney suburb of St Marys following a yearlong investigation into the manufacture and supply of 3D-printed firearms to criminals across Sydney’s west. At the home, investigators arrested a 29-year-old man who was charged
Armament Research Services (ARES) is delighted to announce the release of Research Report No. 10, Black & Grey: The Illicit Online Trade of Small Arms in Venezuela. The culmination of a long-running investigation, Research Report 10 examines a new and thriving segment within Venezuela’s black-market arms trade, which has proliferated primarily through social media and
Pedro Pérez & Jonathan Ferguson An early Colt SP1 (Sporting Purpose model 1) rifle was recovered from a criminal group in Venezuela in the early hours of 21 November 2019. A task force composed of personnel from Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas Penales y Criminalísticas (‘Scientific Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps’; CICPC) and Comando Nacional Antiextorsión
