When talking about the gun markets of the Middle East, military type weapons usually take center stage, but shotguns are as popular in this part of the world as anywhere else, be they for self-defense or sporting purposes. This article is intended as an overview of the range of shotguns that can be found in the region in order to get a better understanding of this lesser studied side of the weapons markets.
Silah Report maintains an extensive database of small arms and light weapons (SALW) offered for sale online in the MENA region, which was used as a data pool in this research. A representative sample of 50 individual shotguns offered for sale in the past 24 months on the online gun markets of Iraq, Syria and Yemen was identified and analyzed for the purposes of this article.
As a starting point, shotguns – defined as a smooth-bore weapon primarily intended to shoot small shot at relatively short range – are clearly outnumbered in the database by items such as handguns and self-loading rifles and represent only ~1% of the total items offered for sale. A reason for that may be the fact that, as a general rule, they are easier to acquire through legal means, therefore being less present on the black market.
In terms of country of manufacture, Turkey clearly dominates the market with 84% of the examples (31 entries) for which the country of origin was identified and 62% of the total sample. Being both close geographically, as part of the Middle East, and having a robust arms manufacturing industry, Turkey's predominance is no surprise. Other countries seen in the sample are China, USA and weapons made in the USSR, with the occasional exotic example like an Italian SPAS-15 offered for sale in Syria (Fig 1.1).
When categorizing by mode of operation, pump action shotguns appear to be the least common, representing just 18% of the sample (9 entries). Most are of established designs like the Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 as well as copies of them such as the Chinese Jing An IL12-IJ2 (fig 1.2).
Break-action shotguns represent 32% of the sample (16 entries), 50% of them being single barrel, 25% side by side and 25% over and under. Many of them are legacy firearms, for example this well worn Verney-Carron Gefar (Fig 1.3).
Finally, self-loading models are the best represented, at 50% of the sample (25 entries). Of these, most follow a traditional pattern, such as the Browning Auto-5, but detachable magazine models, like this accessorized Senator SX-21 (Fig 3) are quite popular, at 25% of all self-loading examples.
As far as caliber goes, 12-gauge is by far the most popular. Few examples of ammo were encountered but European and Turkish manufacturers appear to be common.
Pistol grip only shotguns are quite popular at 16% of the analyzed examples (8 entries), owing most likely to their compactness and ease of maneuver, while in terms of construction materials polymer furniture is seen a bit more often, at 54% (27 entries) versus 47% (23 entries) traditional wood furniture.
Also, several examples of ornate shotguns show up in the sample, either factory made or artisanal like this single shot break barrel (Fig 1.5), showing an aesthetic appreciation of the firearm.
Perhaps owning to a stronger connection to conflict and war, rifles, handguns, machine guns and all other items found on black markets tend to receive much more attention. Yet shotguns are still an integral part of the Middle East's gun markets and ignoring them can potentially lead to missing important insights of their culture and dynamics.
Read the original article in its entirety at silahreport.com.
