N.R Jenzen-Jones & Patrick Senft Around 1130 hrs local time on 8 July 2022, former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe (Abe Shinzō; 安倍 晋三), was shot in Nara, Japan, with a craft-produced (‘privately made’) firearm. Videos of the shooting suggest that the assailant was within a few metres of the former Prime Minister when
Join us for an interdisciplinary discussion examining the past, present, and future of craft-produced small arms and light weapons! ARES is excited to announce the launch of the A Century of Homemade Arms virtual symposium, which will bring together some of the foremost international specialists in craft-produced firearms for a series of presentations open to
G. Hays & N.R. Jenzen-Jones More than 800 suspected criminals in at least 18 countries have been arrested after unwittingly making use of an encrypted chat application known as AN0M, which was administered by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Working in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies
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
Armament Research Services (ARES) is very pleased to announce the release of our latest Research Report, Desktop Firearms: Emergent Small Arms Craft Production Technologies. The report examines the range of emergent technologies which are influencing the craft-production of small arms by individuals, and the effects these are having on the types of weapons that can
Miles Vining With a shortage of conventionally produced small arms in Shan State, Eastern Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), craft-produced and locally assembled weapons have proven important to the Shan State Army (SSA). A locally assembled AK-type self-loading rifle, known as the Yat-Thai in the Shan language, is amongst the most common of these. Built from
ImproGuns Images shared via social media purport to show new “silent weapons for special forces of the [Donetsk People’s] Republic”. Information accompanying the images claims they are manufactured locally by DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) separatist forces in Donbass. One of the weapons, dubbed ‘Deaf-mute Aunt Tanya from Donbas’, appears to be a modified Russian TT-33 type self-loading pistol which has
Improguns Firearms produced using additive manufacturing techniques have been the subject of significant media attention and research. Most firearms printed from polymers have suffered from significant limitations to operational utility, primarily being single-shot weapons. The Shuty MP-1 is different. The latest in a series of videos detailing the development of the MP-1 9 x 19 mm
Impro Guns A self-proclaimed ‘IRA group’ reported to be a merger of various splinter groups including the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), has released pictures of the improvised grenade launcher used in an attack on an armoured Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) vehicle in North Belfast last week. The launcher appears to be quite
Jonathan Ferguson The Syrian conflict continues to yield interesting expedient small arm designs. Syrian rebel forces have been documented craft producing anti-materiel rifles (AMRs). ARES has received video links (see below) that document the manufacture of this weapon, which appears in two variants. It is a homemade bolt-action anti-materiel rifle similar to and perhaps even inspired
