Beyond State Control: Improvised and Craft-produced Small Arms and Light Weapons

by N.R. Jenzen-Jones, G. Hays

Improvised and craft-produced firearms remain an important source of firepower for a wide range of actors, including tribal groups, poachers, criminals, insurgent groups, and even some states and quasi-state groups. In various locations, these weapons account for most of the firearms used in crime; in others, their production is institutionalized, providing essential income for local gunsmiths.

The new Small Arms Survey report Beyond State Control: Improvised and Craft-produced Small Arms and Light Weapons provides an overview of the nature and scale of production, acquisition patterns, and implications for law enforcement and policy.

139 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2018

About the author

N.R. Jenzen-Jones is a technical intelligence specialist, arms historian, and publisher. He is the Editor of Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, the director of Armament Research Services (ARES), and the founder of Helios House Press—publishers of the Miskatonic Missives series of Lovecraftian epistolary readers and the Miskatonic Literary Society series of gothic horror tales. He is the creative director for Miskatonic Missives and the editor of the Christmas with H.P. Lovecraft anthology. Dr Jenzen-Jones holds a visiting fellowship at Nottingham Trent University. He previously held visiting fellowships at Staffordshire University and the University of Northampton, and was awarded the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s 2022–2023 Resident Fellowship for his work with the Cody Firearms Museum.

In his professional life, Dr Jenzen-Jones maintains a broad focus on how weapons are selected, acquired, stockpiled, and employed. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, a life member of the Ordnance Society and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and a member of the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association (HBSA), the Arms & Armour Society, the International Ammunition Association (IAA), the European Cartridge Research Association (ECRA), the British Institute for Libyan & Northern African Studies (BILNAS), and the Pike & Shot Society.