Improvised Firearm

An **improvised firearm** refers to a firearm that has been manufactured by someone other than a gunsmith or a gun manufacturing company. Improvised firearms are most commonly seen in the hands of rebels and freedom fighters, as countries with authoritarian governments typically prohibit firearm ownership by any persons other than the military or security forces.

## Overview

Given the strict laws governing firearm ownership in nations ruled by authoritarian regimes, improvised firearms are a loophole, allowing common citizens to defend themselves and exercise their Biblical and natural authority of self-defense. In most jurisdictions, the mere possession of firearms without proper government authorization is strictly prohibited, and this includes the possession of improvised firearms. Most jurisdictions require firearm owners to be licensed by the state, which is technically a prohibition as licensing is all but an exception to what is otherwise illegal.

Improvised firearms can range from .22 single-shot firearms and slam-fire shotguns to high quality arms as well as machine guns chambered in .50 BMG. The simplest models have been slam-fire shotguns, requiring nothing more than two pipes, along with screws and bolts to serve as firing pins. Zip guns and pen guns have also seen immense popularity.

Given the simplicity of the open-bolt mechanism, most improvised submachine guns and automatic firearms are designed in this fashion.

## Notable examples

Philip Andrew Luty is one of history's most noted designers of improvised firearms. In the 1990s, in response to increasingly restrictive firearm control laws in the United Kingdom, he created his own designs of fully automatic pistol caliber submachine guns to demonstrate that such laws are in fact, useless, and that even without complex tools such as lathes or milling machines, one can construct his own personal automatic firearm.

In 2020, a German-Kurdish firearms designer known only by his online username JStark1809 created the FGC-9, a semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 9mm pistol cartridge. The FGC stands for "Fuck Gun Control", expressing the designer's contempt for restrictive firearms legislation. His model has been famously used by rebels in Myanmar to resist the military junta.

In various armed conflicts, freedom fighters have crafted their own arms to resist state tyranny. This has included designs such as the Borz submachine gun, the Blyskawica submachine gun, the Carlo, and among many others. Most homemade submachine guns are designed to fire from an open bolt, increasing the firing rate drastically.

## Gallery

A submachine gun based on the designs of Philip Andrew Luty, a British political dissident who constructed fully automatic submachine guns in the 1990s without the use of lathes, milling machines, or other complex tools. Luty designed such firearms as an act of protest against the British government's increasingly strict controls on firearms ownership.The FGC-9, designed by JStark1809, a German-Kurdish firearms designer intent on creating a firearm that would not contain parts regulated by European Union Firearm Laws. This semi-automatic carbine in 9mm has been seen in the hands of resistance fighters in Myanmar.Fully automatic machine guns chambered in .50 BMG seized in Brazil. The designers simply built scaled-up versions of submachine guns.The Blyskawica submachine gun was used by Polish resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of Poland in the 1940s.