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Alpers, Philip and Conor Twyford. 2003 ‘Stockpiles and Trafficking in the Pacific - Australia.’ Small Arms in the Pacific; Occasional Paper No. 8, p. 16. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 31 March

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Stockpiles and Trafficking in the Pacific - Australia

Illegal handguns are said to be commonly bought and sold in Sydney's west and southwest. Depending on their calibre and condition, unconfirmed media reports suggest they can fetch between AUD 1,500 and AUD 5,000 (USD 750-2,500).

Desirable but expensive black market handguns include 9mm Glock semi-automatics, .357 Magnum revolvers, and .38 Smith & Wessons. Ex-US Army firearms such as .45 calibre Colt semi-automatic pistols used in World War II have also surfaced on Sydney's streets.

In the two years to December 2002, the NSW Firearms Squad seized 4,100 illegal firearms, including 680 handguns.

No organized black market in firearms appears to exist. Rather, police intelligence suggests that trade in illegal firearms is divided between criminal gangs whose focus is other crime, and small networks of individuals who buy and sell by word of mouth.

The main buyers appear to be street criminals, with police reporting, in 2002, that handguns were being found in the possession of increasingly youthful gang members.

ID: Q948

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