Pistols are the world’s most seized type of firearm

Pistols are the world’s most seized type of firearm, making up around 39 per cent of the total number of firearms seized worldwide, while almost all flows of inter-regional firearms trafficking can be traced back to a point in Northern America, Europe, and Western Asia. As firearms are often involved in violence, particularly in homicide, they are also a major human security concern.

The Global Study on Firearms Trafficking 2020 compiles the most comprehensive data on firearms trafficking to date and was published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“The global study focuses on the serious – and too often hidden – problem of firearms trafficking, which poses a grave threat to human life and to international security, and which serves as an enabler and multiplier of violence and crime in every part of the world,” said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly.