Gun Runners

The **Gun Runners** are a weapons manufacturer and merchant company operating out of the Fortress in the Boneyard. By 2281, it has branches in many areas, including one near The Strip in the Mojave Wasteland. The Gun Runners supply only the finest hardware to the most discerning of customers, including the New California Republic.

## Background

### Early years

The people who would establish the Gun Runners were originally a small-time gang from the Hub, which moved south into the Boneyard around 2131. The promise of new territory and influence appealed to them. They did indeed find it, though not in the way they expected it. The gang settled into a factory in northeast Los Angeles. On top of usual gang activities, the Gun Runners started trading weapons taken from their marks or imported from their contacts back at the Hub to local communities and gangs.

The profits made on this deal prompted them to abandon their gang ties and focus on trade. Rather than keep importing weapons, the Gun Runners decided to put the machines inside the factory to use. Coupled with an abundant supply of scrap metal around their factory, they quickly established themselves as machinists and gunsmiths, capable of manufacturing military-grade weapons and ammunition with the use of pre-War schematics.

The independent metal supply lasted until 2151, when they had to start importing raw materials from Adytum to sustain their business. They adopted the Gun Runners name in 2155, formally establishing their business. The situation was stable and generated profits for both sides, until 2158, when the Regulators established their rule over Adytum. Exploiting the Gun Runners' reliance on imports, the Regulators started squeezing the Gun Runners, buying their weapons at bargain prices and pocketing the difference in value upon resale. Although the Gun Runners grew desperate in search of another source of supply, the deathclaws, which took up residence in the Boneyard made finding one or moving shop entirely an impossibility. The entire situation was a problem for Gabriel, their informal leader, especially since the deathclaws kept driving customers away and leaving Zack, their master merchant, without much to do.

### New California Republic

The Gun Runners survived the problems with the deathclaws and Adytum, continuing to rise in prominence as the primary suppliers of high-quality weapons and ammunition in New California, eventually becoming one of two oldest and most influential merchant houses in the nascent New California Republic, together with Crimson Caravan. Their influence grew further with the foundation of the New California Republic Army. As the standing army required weapons and ammunition, the Gun Runners answered that call. In time, they became what was commonly called an unofficial branch of the army.

By 2281, they dominate the conventional weapons market from the Boneyard to New Vegas. Army contracts account for a substantial part of their business, up to 90% in contested regions such as New Vegas and Hoover Dam. Their influence is the envy of competing businesses, but the Gun Runners wield too much influence in New California for either Crimson Caravan or the Van Graffs to do anything about it. Their weapons are also utilized by NCR presidential bodyguards.