Illegal weapons are behind 76% of firearm homicides in Colombia

A gun is produced thousands of miles from Colombia and only ends up in the hands of a local criminal after crossing several borders and changing hands multiple times. Although 76% of homicides committed with firearms in the South American country were carried out with illegal weapons, according to the National Police, reconstructing the route they took to reach the black markets is not easy for authorities. Records show that a large share come from the United States, while Turkey appears as the main origin of traumatic (non-lethal) weapons, which are increasingly being used to commit crimes.

Now that the new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has lifted the suspension on legally carrying firearms and has spoken of possibly even expanding citizens’ access to them, control over the circulation of weapons in Colombia is taking on a new dimension. The country has between 600,000 and 700,000 licenses or permits to own or carry firearms, but their holders until now could not take them out of their homes because of the restriction maintained by all presidents since 2015. “For years the law-abiding citizen was restricted while criminals continued to arm themselves illegally to the teeth. That has got to change,” the president says in the video on his social media account in which he announced his decree.

That same day the website for Indumil, the state-owned company that manufactures and sells legal weapons, crashed amid an avalanche of inquiries that followed the government announcement. Just one day later, scenes that look ripped from U.S. films began to go viral. In Medellín, a 17-year-old entered a school with a traumatic weapon, fired several shots into the air to intimidate teachers and injured himself. Two days later, in Piedecuesta, a street fight triggered by a traffic accident also ended with a driver brandishing a firearm to intimidate a motorcyclist. Although it cannot be said that either episode is connected to the executive’s announcement, the coincidences have not gone unnoticed.

Until 2024, Colombia had no mechanism to systematize information on illegal weapons entering the country that were seized by authorities. The figures used by investigators from the Judicial Investigation Directorate (Dijín) come from the recently created Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives Tracing Module, created in 2024. According to this program, in 2025 21,593 firearms were seized—359 more than the previous year—in operations carried out on highways, in cities and in border areas. Among these there were weapons clandestinely manufactured in Colombia, others bought in parts in different countries and then assembled in the country, and some legally purchased in stores in the United States or in Turkey.

Of the seized weapons, 73% were industrially manufactured—i.e., produced by a specialized company with all original parts. This category includes firearms and traumatic weapons whose parts have never been replaced. The other 27% are improvised weapons, the official term for home-made firearms or those that have been manually modified. This is the most challenging category for authorities because it is difficult to trace. A source at Dijín says that “many weapons are altered or have their parts swapped, which causes traceability to be lost, since each component bears a different serial number. The barrel, slide and frame often show different codes from one another, and they may even have been manufactured in completely different countries.”

Their types are also very varied. They range from revolvers and pistols to machine guns and grenade launchers. Revolvers are by far the most numerous, with 2,114 seizures, followed by 483 rifles and 377 pistols. The list also includes shotguns, carbines, machine guns and grenade launchers. “The figures have an explanation: short firearms are in greatest demand because, in the criminal world, they are the ones most often rented out to commit crimes,” says a senior Dijín source.

Their origins are varied as well. For industrial weapons, the U.S. is the country that tops the manufacturer list. In seizures over the past two years, authorities identified 4,343 weapons that came from that country, of which 4,322 were industrial. Turkey ranks second, but with a completely different profile: of the 3,923 weapons manufactured there and seized in Colombia, 3,688 were traumatic, a category that carries much less weight among weapons coming from other countries.

In third place are weapons manufactured domestically that were being used illegally. Of all seizures in the past two years, 2,054 weapons had been legally manufactured in the country. Of that total, 1,966 were industrial and 87 were improvised. Further back are Italy, with 718 weapons—638 industrial, 70 traumatic and 10 improvised; Germany, with 470, almost all industrial (467); and Israel, with 383, all industrial.

The map thus shows two clear distinctions: while the United States, Germany and Israel are associated almost exclusively with industrial weapons, Turkey stands out for traumatic weapons and Colombia for a mix that also includes artisanal production.

The debate opened by the government spans two weapons markets that are not the same but can end up intersecting. One is the legal market, to which the executive now seeks to facilitate access for citizens who already had gun possession licenses but could not take the weapon out of their homes; the other is the clandestine market, fed by weapons that enter hidden among drug shipments, contraband or concealed in appliances and are diverted from legal circuits, are manufactured artisanally, or change hands until they fall outside authorities’ control.

Andrés Villamizar, a security expert who was an adviser to the Ministry of Defense, explains that in practice the door De la Espriella has opened should have no effect on the illegal arms market. “They are completely different markets and publics. The citizen who is going to acquire a weapon legally not only faces giant constraints, like the permits and paperwork for possession and carry, but also a high cost,” he explains. The cheapest weapon that can be purchased legally, from Indumil, costs about 3 million pesos or $1,000. “With the cost of licenses and procedures, it ends up costing about 6 million pesos, when the per-capita income of a Colombian is 1.5 million pesos,” he says.

Beyond the economic constraints, Villamizar considers it unthinkable that Colombia could ever reach the U.S. scenario, in which the state does not have a monopoly on weapons. “Colombia has always been, and continues to be, one of the most restrictive countries for a private citizen to acquire a firearm. It is unlikely to reach a scenario of open legalization like that of other countries,” he says, referring to a rule that is enshrined in the Constitution.

However, other experts warn of risks derived from the government’s decision. The NGO Temblores warns that greater availability of weapons increases the lethality of existing violence. It also notes that most of the weapons used to commit crimes come from legal markets or were industrially manufactured. Tracing the path of illegal weapons is difficult. Records can identify where they were manufactured, but not necessarily how they arrived in Colombia or when they jumped from a legal purchase to an illegal market.

Authorities have identified some access routes to Colombia. One is the so-called ant trafficking from Ecuador: weapons are sold hand-to-hand and enter the country in small quantities through border cities such as Tumaco, Ipiales and Puerto Asís. From there, the weapons move inland along corridors that pass through Mocoa, Florencia, Popayán and Cali.

Another route comes from Europe via Panama. Weapons that reach the Central American country cross into Colombian territory at a border that is more porous and evasive than the previous one. And another passes through the border with Venezuela, where short and long firearms circulate. Authorities have identified several crossing points, such as Paraguachón, Maicao, Cúcuta, Arauca and Puerto Carreño.

Official Dijín records document that in that part of the country a machine dedicated to assembling AK-47 rifles has been identified; it received parts separately and assembled them into one of the long guns most used by armed groups in Colombia. An assembly that shows the illegal market is increasingly multiple in sources and weapons, more complex and more varied. Traceability is very fragile for the authorities of a country that has just returned the right to carry to those with legal weapons while trying to track those that circulate in the illicit market.

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