A couple of weeks ago a right wing nutjob planning to do a terrorist attack was killed during a police raid. This was in Belgium and heavy weapons were found in his house. It made me realize that we need to step up our game as the left, because the right is doing so as well. This is in a country where almost no one has weapons, so to see them arming themselves was a bit of a shock.
I tried looking for it but I can’t find the reason for him having so many heavy weapons. They mentioned he was a member of a shooting range, so some might be legally owned (which you can still do), but it doesn’t explain the dozens of weapons they found. So I don’t know unfortunately. My city is the main drug port in Europe, and illegal weapons are big, so that might be the case.
Apparently the war in Serbia and Bosnia led to a huge increase of black market weapons. There’s a lot of smaller criminals walking around with 90s Yugoslavian weapons. Actual military grade weapons are harder to get.
But I’m sure the Ukrainian war will have its effect on arms trade in Europe. And especially targeted at far right groups, with Azov and all that.
But I’m sure the Ukrainian war will have its effect on arms trade in Europe.
Have you seen the stats for the number of weapons that actually get to the front vs the number of weapons sold? Something like a third of all the military “aid” NATO gives to Ukraine just… got lost. Somewhere.
Well that’s good at least. Since this is heavy weaponry we’re talking about, I assumed it was gonna be military-grade. Since I thought it was going to be things like Chainguns, Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers.
I met someone in the air force that had snuck an RPG back to their house. Security for a lot of these weapons isn’t close to what it should be, and there’s plenty of demand for them. They certainly aren’t very concerned with their weapons winding up in the wrong hands.
The shooting range is simply a networking environment. Its where a would-be gun buyer can get connected with the individuals who have ties to the black market and can hook them up with weapons in countries where gun ownership is restricted. In other words, its the place where legal gun enthusiasts come into contact with the sort of figures you would only otherwise reach through involvement in criminal gangs.
What these weapons dealers have available for their customers varies greatly, but typically most of their stuff will originally come from Eastern Europe. A lot of weapons disappeared out of the arsenals of collapsed communist states at the end of the Cold War and fell into the hands of criminals in this way, though today the primest equipment is that being sent to Ukraine by NATO countries that then conveniently disappears once it changes hands.
Not by itself. At this point, the only way forward is by fighting back.
A couple of weeks ago a right wing nutjob planning to do a terrorist attack was killed during a police raid. This was in Belgium and heavy weapons were found in his house. It made me realize that we need to step up our game as the left, because the right is doing so as well. This is in a country where almost no one has weapons, so to see them arming themselves was a bit of a shock.
Was he ex-military by any chance? Otherwise I don’t get how he obtained heavy weapons as a civilian, and managed to obfuscate them.
I tried looking for it but I can’t find the reason for him having so many heavy weapons. They mentioned he was a member of a shooting range, so some might be legally owned (which you can still do), but it doesn’t explain the dozens of weapons they found. So I don’t know unfortunately. My city is the main drug port in Europe, and illegal weapons are big, so that might be the case.
Gladio
Amazing how military-grade equipment is falling into the wrong hands this easily.
Apparently the war in Serbia and Bosnia led to a huge increase of black market weapons. There’s a lot of smaller criminals walking around with 90s Yugoslavian weapons. Actual military grade weapons are harder to get.
But I’m sure the Ukrainian war will have its effect on arms trade in Europe. And especially targeted at far right groups, with Azov and all that.
Have you seen the stats for the number of weapons that actually get to the front vs the number of weapons sold? Something like a third of all the military “aid” NATO gives to Ukraine just… got lost. Somewhere.
I was reading this week about how weapons supplied to Ukraine have already ended up in the middle east if I’m not mistaken.
Well that’s good at least. Since this is heavy weaponry we’re talking about, I assumed it was gonna be military-grade.
Since I thought it was going to be things like Chainguns, Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers.I met someone in the air force that had snuck an RPG back to their house. Security for a lot of these weapons isn’t close to what it should be, and there’s plenty of demand for them. They certainly aren’t very concerned with their weapons winding up in the wrong hands.
The shooting range is simply a networking environment. Its where a would-be gun buyer can get connected with the individuals who have ties to the black market and can hook them up with weapons in countries where gun ownership is restricted. In other words, its the place where legal gun enthusiasts come into contact with the sort of figures you would only otherwise reach through involvement in criminal gangs.
What these weapons dealers have available for their customers varies greatly, but typically most of their stuff will originally come from Eastern Europe. A lot of weapons disappeared out of the arsenals of collapsed communist states at the end of the Cold War and fell into the hands of criminals in this way, though today the primest equipment is that being sent to Ukraine by NATO countries that then conveniently disappears once it changes hands.