Illicit firearms, small arms and light weapons continue to contribute to instability and violence in the European Union, in its immediate neighbourhood, and in the rest of the world. Illicit small arms are fuelling global terrorism and conflicts, thwarting the EU’s development and crisis management, humanitarian and stabilisation efforts in parts of the EU’s neighbourhood and Africa. Within the EU, illicit firearms have a clear impact on internal security, by fuelling organised crime and providing terrorists with means to carry out attacks on European soil. The 2016 United Nations Secretary General’s report on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects [7] stated that the number of civil wars in the world had tripled over the previous decade. Armed conflict, often fuelled by the proliferation of illicit small arms, is a key factor in depriving almost 800 million people of sufficient food. Illicit firearms facilitate trafficking in drugs and human beings through intimidation and coercion, fuel turf conflicts between urban gangs and empower terrorists. Terrorist attacks in Europe have illustrated the link between organised crime and terrorism, notably in the trafficking of firearms, and are a clear indicator of a multidimensional threat involving various areas of crime. Europol’s 2017 Serious and organised crime threat assessment (SOCTA)8 noted that recent terrorist attacks both inside the EU and elsewhere, carried out by jihadist terrorists using trafficked firearms, had demonstrated the lethal consequences of this illicit trade.