‘If You Get into the Business, You Have to Arm Up’: The Possession, Display and Discharge of Firearms by Members of Organized Criminal Groups

The chapter examines the use of illicit firearms in the context of organized criminal activities and by members of organized criminal groups. In this context ‘use’ includes carrying, displaying, and discharging guns for instrumental reasons during a crime or as a symbolic gesture such as to prove one’s mettle to peers. The chapter draws from seventy-five in-depth interviews with prisoners convicted of firearms-related crime in Australia and focuses specifically on the lived experience of participants in the context of illicit firearms markets and organized criminal groups. In this chapter, we explore the use of crime guns by members of organized criminal groups and in the commission or ‘organized crime’-type offences such as dealing and trafficking in illicit drugs. We explore a range of themes drawing on interviews including: preferences for specific types of firearms; the use of firearms to enhance status and power; the use of firearms for protection in illicit drug markets; firearms as a tool to steal drugs and money from drug dealers; and the use of firearms in conflicts between organized criminal groups. We discuss the implications of our results for policy and practice.