Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
International Crisis Group. 2010 ‘Pellet Rifles and Homemade Guns.’ Illicit Arms in Indonesia (No. 109), p. 5. Jakarta: International Crisis Group. 6 September
Relevant contents
IV. PELLET RIFLES AND HOMEMADE GUNS
One important category of weapons in Indonesia are homemade guns which can be legal but often are not. The legal variety are air rifles, used for hunting, especially shooting birds, that fire 4.5mm pellets. These are different from the airsoft variety; they are stronger and designed for practical use. They fall under the 2004 regulations for recreational shooting and must be registered accordingly. Though made in Indonesia, they frequently carry foreign trademarks, such as Diana, Benjamin or BSD; there are also local brands, including Canon and SD. Producers say the foreign trademarks draw a higher price.
The illegal variety can be crude contraptions (rakitan) made out of necessity by criminals, insurgents or other combatants. In Poso, central Sulawesi where intense communal conflict raged between 1998 and 2001, homemade guns were used by both sides. In early 2010, Central Sulawesi police held a ceremony to destroy guns seized in recent years that had been used in the fighting. In the mix were 381 homemade shoulder arms, 75 homemade handguns, 25 homemade firecrackers and only nine factory-made weapons.
But homemade guns can also be carefully-made replicas of pistols, made by the same skilled gunsmiths that make the air rifles. Some of these so closely resemble the real model that police and soldiers in need of money have been known to sell their government-issue gun for a fake replacement complete with serial number, and no one is the wiser.