the.com/gunrunner
Smuggles firearms across borders where paperwork would only slow down the murder.
means Someone who illegally smuggles guns and ammunition, typically across borders or to embargoed buyers.
from A straightforward compound of 'gun' plus 'runner' — 'runner' in the old sense of someone who moves contraband past authorities, the same sense that gave English 'rumrunner' and 'bootlegger'-adjacent smuggling terms during periods of prohibition and arms embargoes. The word rides on a long tradition of '-runner' terms for people who dodge blockades and customs to deliver forbidden goods.
- etymology
- from running rum, swapped liquor for lead
- golden era
- Cold War proxy wars made it a growth industry
- modus operandi
- fake end-user certificates make illegal sales look legal
- famous case
- Viktor Bout inspired the movie Lord of War