Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

A crime script model of Dark web Firearms Purchasing

  • Published:
American Journal of Criminal Justice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Despite recent growths in research exploring the nature and scope of the online illicit marketplace, there has been a dearth of criminological inquiry examining both the chronological and functional steps offenders use to exchange illegal firearms online. As a result, it is unclear what role and function active market participants have within the online illicit firearms market, including the process of advertising, purchasing, and delivering these weapons. The current study sought to address this gap in the literature through a crime script analysis of 19 vendors advertising weapons on the Dark Web. The step-by-step processes involved in the advertising, actualization, and acquisition of illicit firearms were examined in detail.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

Notes

  1. The appearance of a manufacturer within the data is intended to reflect any model of weapon they produce.

References

  • Ablon, L., Libicki, M. C., & Golay, A. A. (2014). Markets for cybercrime tools and stolen data: Hackers’ bazaar. Rand Corporation

  • Aldridge, J., & Askew, R. (2017). Delivery Dilemmas: How Drug Cryptomarket Users Identify and Seek to Reduce their Risk of Detection by Law Enforcement. International Journal of Drug Policy, 41, 101–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., & Décary-Hétu, D. (2014). Not an ‘Ebay for Drugs’: The Cryptomarket ‘Silk Road’ as a Paradigm Shifting Criminal Innovation. Available at SSRN 2436643

  • Aldridge, J., & Decary-Hétu, D. (2016). Cryptomarkets and the Future of Illicit Drug Markets.The Internet and Drug Markets,23–32

  • Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (2016). Illicit Firearms in Australia Report. Canberra: ACIC. https://www.acic.gov.au/publications/unclassified-intelligence-reports/illicit-firearms-australia-report

  • Barratt, M. J. (2012). Silk Road: Ebay for drugs. Addiction, 107(3), 683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barratt, M. J., Lenton, S., & Allen, M. (2013). Internet Content Regulation, Public Drug Websites and the Growth in Hidden Internet Services. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 20(3), 195–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Borrion, H. (2013). Quality Assurance in Crime Scripting. Crime Science, 2(1), 1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bricknell, S. (2012). Firearm Trafficking and Serious and Organised Crime Gangs. AIC reports: Research and Public Policy Series., p.xi

  • Broadhurst, R., Foye, J., Jiang, C., & Ball, M. (2021). Illicit Firearms and Other Weapons on Darknet Markets. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 622, 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, G. L. (2002). Guns in American Society. ABC-CLIO

  • Cherbonneau, M., & Copes, H. (2006). Drive it Like you Stole it: Auto Theft and the Illusion of Normalcy. The British Journal of Criminology, 46(2), 193–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiu, Y. N., Leclerc, B., & Townsley, M. (2011). Crime Script Analysis of Drug Manufacturing in Clandestine Laboratories: Implications for Prevention. The British Journal of Criminology, 51(2), 355–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, R. V. (1997). Situational Crime Prevention. Crime and Justice, 19, 91–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, R. V., & Cornish, D. B. (1985). Modeling Offenders’ Decisions:A Framework for

  • Research and Policy.Crime and Justice, 6,147–185

  • Cook, P. J., & Braga, A. A. (2001). Comprehensive Firearms Tracing: Strategic and Investigative Uses of New Data on Firearms Markets. Arizona Law Review, 43, 277

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, P. J., & Ludwig, J. (1996). Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use. Washington, DC: Police Foundation

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, P. J., Parker, S. T., & Pollack, H. A. (2015). Sources of Guns to Dangerous People: What We Learn by Asking Them. Preventive Medicine, 79, 28–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copeland, C., Wallin, M., & Holt, T. J. (2020). Assessing the practices and products of Darkweb Firearm Vendors. Deviant Behavior, 41(8), 949–968

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornish, D. B. (1994). The Procedural Analysis of Offending and its Relevance for Situational Prevention. Crime Prevention Studies, 3(1), 151–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Décary-Hétu, D., & Dupont, B. (2013). Reputation in a Dark Network of Online Criminals. Global Crime, 14(2–3), 175–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Décary-Hétu, D., & Giommoni, L. (2017). Do Police Crackdowns Disrupt Drug Cryptomarkets? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Effects of Operation Onymous. Crime, Law and Social Change, 67(1), 55–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Décary-Hétu, D., & Laferrière, D. (2015). Discrediting Vendors in Online Criminal Markets.Disrupting Criminal Networks: Network Analysis in Crime Prevention,129–152

  • Ekblom, P., & Tilley, N. (2000). Going equipped. The British Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 376–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction & Europol. (2019). EU Drug Markets Report 2019. Lisbon: Publication Office of the European Union. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2810/561192

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Feinstein, A. (2011). The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade. Macmillan

  • Flamand, C., & Décary-Hétu, D. (2019). The Open and Dark Web: Facilitating Cybercrime and Technology-Enabled Offences. The Human Factor of Cybercrime (pp. 60–80). Routledge

  • Hales, G., Lewis, C., & Silverstone, D. (2006). Gun Crime: The Market In and Use of Illegal Firearms

  • Holt, T. J. (2013). Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime Markets Online. Social Science Computer Review, 31/(2), 165–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, T. J., Chua, Y. T., & Smirnova, O. (2013). An Exploration of the Factors Affecting the Advertised Price for Stolen Data. In 2013 APWG eCrime Researchers Summit (pp. 1–10). IEEE

  • Holt, T. J., & Lampke, E. (2010). Exploring Stolen Data Markets Online: Products and Market Forces. Criminal Justice Studies, 23(1), 33–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, T. J., & Lee, J. R. (2020). A Crime Script Analysis of Counterfeit Identity Document Procurement Online.Deviant Behavior,1–18

  • Holt, T. J., Smirnova, O., & Chua, Y. T. (2016). Exploring and Estimating the Revenues and Profits of Participants in Stolen Data Markets. Deviant Behavior, 37(4), 353–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, T. J., Smirnova, O., & Hutchings, A. (2016). Examining signals of trust in criminal markets online. Journal of Cybersecurity, 2(2), 137–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchings, A., & Holt, T. J. (2015). A Crime Script Analysis of the Online Stolen Data Market. The British Journal of Criminology, 55(3), 596–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchings, A., & Holt, T. J. (2017). The Online Stolen Data Market: Disruption and Intervention Approaches. Global Crime, 18(1), 11–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Internationals Arms Transfer (2016). Retrieved August 2021. (https://www.sipri.org/research/armament-and-disarmament/arms-transfers-and-military-spending/international-arms-transfers)

  • Jacobs, B. A. (1996). Crack Dealers’ Apprehension Avoidance Techniques: A Case of Restrictive Deterrence. Justice Quarterly, 13(3), 359–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, B. A., & Cherbonneau, M. (2017).Nerve Management and Crime Accomplishment

  • Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 54(5),617–638

  • Jardine, E. (2021). Policing the Cybercrime Script of Darknet Drug Markets: Methods of Effective Law Enforcement Intervention. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(6), 980–1005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffrey, C. (2018). FBI Charges Three in Connection with DDoS-for-Hire Website Seizures. Techspot, December 20, 2018. https://www.techspot.com/news/77969-fbi-charges-three-connection-ddos-hire-website-seizures.html

  • Kennedy, J. P., Haberman, C. P., & Wilson, J. M. (2018). Occupational Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting Schemes: A Crime Scripts Analysis. Victims & Offenders, 13(2), 196–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, B. (2017). UK Man Gets Two Years in Jail for Running ‘Titanium Stresser’ Attack-for-Hire Service. Krebs On Security, April 25, 2017. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/04/uk-man-gets-two-years-in-jail-for-running-titanium-stresser-attack-for-hire-service/

  • Krebs, B. (2018). Feds Charge Three in Massive Seizure of Attack-for-Hire Services. Krebs On Security, December 20, 2018. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/12/feds-charge-three-in-mass-seizure-of-attack-for-hire-services/Krebs, B. (2019). Webstresser Users to Face Legal Action. Krebs on Security, Feburary 1, 2019. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/02/250-webstresser-users-to-face-legal-action/

  • Lavorgna, A. (2015). The Online Trade in Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals: New Criminal Opportunities, Trends and Challenges. European Journal of Criminology, 12(2), 226–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levi, M., & Maguire, M. (2004). Reducing and Preventing Organised Crime: An Evidence-Based Critique. Crime, Law and Social Change, 41(5), 397–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, W., & Chen, H. (2014). Identifying Top Sellers in Underground Economy Using Deep Learning-Based Sentiment Analysis. In 2014 IEEE Joint Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (pp. 64–67). IEEE

  • Mann, D., & Sutton, M. (1998). Netcrime: More Change in the Organization of Thieving. The British Journal of Criminology, 38(2), 201–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. (2014). Lost on the Silk Road: Online Drug Distribution and the ‘Cryptomarket’. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 14(3), 351–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. (1998). Up it Up: Gender and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery. Criminology, 36(1), 37–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. M., & Miller, H. V. (2021). Beating the House: Ethnographic Insights into a Web-Based Marijuana Grey Market. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(6), 1018–1033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morselli, C., & Roy, J. (2008). Brokerage Qualifications in Ringing Operations. Criminology, 46(1), 71–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Motoyama, M., McCoy, D., Levchenko, K., Savage, S., & Voelker, G. M. (2011). An Analysis of Underground Forums. In Proceedings of the 2011 ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Internet Measurement Conference (pp. 71–80)

  • Office of Public Affairs Department of Justice (2017). Kansas Man Sentenced to 52 Months for Exporting Firearms to Overseas Purchasers Using Hidden Marketplace Website. Retrieved August 2021. (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kansas-man-sentenced-52-months-exporting-firearms-overseas-purchasers-using-hidden)

  • Paoli, G. P., Aldridge, J., Nathan, R., & Warnes, R. (2017). Behind the Curtain: The Illicit Trade of Firearms. Explosives and Ammunition on the Dark Web

  • Perdue, R. T. (2021). Who Needs the Dark Web? Exploring the Trade in Critically Endangered Plants on eBay. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(6), 1006–1017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, A. (2013). World Military Spending.Global Issues, 30

  • Smirnova, O., & Holt, T. J. (2017). Examining the Geographic Distribution of Victim Nations in Stolen Data Markets. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(11), 1403–1426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. J. (2017). Expanding the Script Analytic Approach Using Victim Narratives: Learning about Robberies of Taxi Drivers from the Drivers Themselves. Crime Prevention in the 21st Century (pp. 77–98). Cham: Springer

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tompson, L., & Chainey, S. (2011). Profiling Illegal Waste Activity: Using Crime Scripts as a Data Collection and Analytical Strategy. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 17(3), 179–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ubbink, J. (2019). Characterization of Illegal Dark Web Arms Markets

  • United Nations (2017). Human Cost of Arms Trafficking ‘Runs Deep’, Disarmament Chief Stresses as Security Council Debates Halting Illicit Trade on ‘Dark Web’. Media Release, 18 December. https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc13126.doc.html

  • United States Department of Justice (2018). Darknet International Gun Traffickers Sentenced. Media Release, 17 April. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/darknet-international-gun-traffickers-sentenced

  • van Hardeveld, G. J., Webber, C., & O’Hara, K. (2017). Deviating from the Cybercriminal Script: Exploring Tools of Anonymity (Mis)used by Carders on Cryptomarkets. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(11), 1244–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VanNostrand, L. M., & Tewksbury, R. (1999). The Motives and Mechanics of Operating an Illegal Drug Enterprise. Deviant Behavior, 20(1), 57–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wintemute, G. J. (2013). Broadening Denial Criteria for the Purchase and Possession of Firearms: Need, Feasibility, and Effectiveness. Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis (pp. 77–93). The Johns Hopkins University Press

  • Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. H. (1994). Burglars on the Job: Streetlife and Residential Break-Ins. UPNE

  • Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. H. (1997). Armed Robbers in Action:. Stickups and Street Culture’, UPNE

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Homeland Security [17STCIN00001-02-00]. The opinions and findings expressed are those of the researchers and not of the funding agency, its employees, or staff.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Road, 434 Baker Hall, 48824, East Lansing, MI, United States of America

    Thomas J. Holt

  2. Department of Criminology, Law & Society, George Mason University Fairfax, 303 Enterprise Hall 4400 University Drive, MS 4F4 22030, Fairfax, VA, United States of America

    Jin Ree Lee

Authors
  1. Thomas J. Holt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jin Ree Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas J. Holt.

Ethics declarations

Declaration of Interest Statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Holt, T.J., Lee, J.R. A crime script model of Dark web Firearms Purchasing. Am J Crim Just 48, 509–529 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09675-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09675-8

Keywords