Illegal Arms Manufacturing

The unlicensed or unauthorized production of firearms, ammunition or other weapons, encompassing both the unlawful manufacture of a complete weapon outside any government licensing or oversight regime and the unlawful assembly of a functional firearm from unregulated, unserialized parts or components, commonly referred to as a ghost gun when assembled from a kit or from a 3D-printed frame or receiver. Most countries restrict firearm manufacture to licensed manufacturers under a dedicated regulatory regime, and unlicensed manufacture is prosecuted as an offense distinct from illegal possession of an already-manufactured weapon. The United Nations Firearms Protocol, supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, requires signatory states to criminalize the illicit manufacturing of firearms, their parts, components and ammunition, alongside illicit trafficking, recognizing unlicensed domestic manufacture, including small-scale craft production long documented in parts of Africa, Asia and the Balkans, as a significant source of weapons feeding armed conflict and organized crime independent of any cross-border trafficking.