Arms Dealer: Difference between revisions
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[[File:lord of war 3296.jpg|link=Lord of War|frame|I sell to leftists and rightists. I'd sell to pacifists, but they're not the most regular customers.]]
{{quote|''"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is, how do we arm the other eleven?"''
|'''Yuri Orlov''', ''[[Lord of War]]''}}
▲{{quote|''"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is, how do we arm the other eleven?"''|'''Yuri Orlov''', ''[[Lord of War]]''}}
In its basic form, a person who sells weaponry. This results in a large variety of sub-types of these characters:
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These characters are generally depicted as slimy merchants of death, making money from brutal wars and providing the means to prolong the conflict. They may be inclined to start a [[War for Fun and Profit]], hoping to make money from selling weapons.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Mad Scientist|Jail Scaglietti]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]''. It would be a shame to create all those advances in technology without someone using them after all. His biggest clients are {{spoiler|[[Government Conspiracy|the higher-ups]] of [[The Federation|the Time-Space Administration Bureau]] themselves}}.
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* Chevy Chase and Gregory Hines in ''[[Deal Of The Century]]''.
* There's a slightly unusual gun rurnner in ''[[The Salton Sea]]''.
* In ''[[Casablanca]]'', Rick Blaine was this in Ethiopia and during the Spanish Civil War, according to his [[Backstory]]. Apparently he did it for the cause, although [[Not in This For Your Revolution|he was unwilling to admit it]] and certainly had no problem pocketing the pay he got out of it. He was told, "The winning side would have paid much better" and replied ambiguously. Actually, the winning side would not have paid him at all because they would have been purchasing from reliable arms cartels, not smugglers; while the Ethiopians at least would have needed unconventional sources because they were strapped for cash.
== Fan Works ==
* In the aftermath of the 3rd Harbinger battle in ''[[Aeon Entelechy Evangelion]]'' there were a lot of munitions that didn't explode or were abandoned in the chaos, which the local ghouls scavenge and sell to interested parties like the Eldritch Society.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The [[White Wolf]] collectible card game ''Vampire: The Eternal Struggle'' featured an ally card called Arms Dealer. While in play, the Arms Dealer can take an action to allow the
* Very common in ''[[Shadowrun]]''. Arms dealers are known as 'Fixers' (as in "I can fix you up with something"). Fixers not only deal in arms, but in body armor, black market cyberdecks and programs, and even cybernetic modifications. The Crime Mall is perhaps the most brazen example, actually operating open-to-the-public storefronts out of an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130915132347/http://www.southhillmall.com/home/index.ch2 abandoned shopping mall] in the Puyallup Barrens.
* Several factions function like this at one time or another in ''[[BattleTech]]''. The Free Worlds League and the Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance are both known for it, but the one who really takes the cake is probably Clan Diamond Shark, which despite being part of Battletech's [[Proud Warrior Race]] would much rather sell guns to you than fight you.
* Fairly common in ''[[Inquisitor]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' game lines. ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' also has a system of [[Friend in the Black Market|Contacts]], whose possible abilities include significant discount and/or improved Availability (vs. open market values) for a category of goods — it's one of the most obvious uses. Sure, one Contact (who sits in one place, while your Acolytes may have to travel anywhere across entire Sector) with access to military equipment + 30% discount on ammo and nothing else is worth more XP than good relations with a whole Imperial organization, but given how expensive ammunition for bolters and exotic weapons is...
* In ''[[Rifts]]'' you not only have the Black Market (your standard shady arms dealers) and independent gun shops, but a number of companies such as Wilk's and Northern Gun also sell their wares directly.
== Theatre ==
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* The now famous Charlie Wilson was a U.S. congressman who used his own power - he was a member of the appropiations committee (money lenders) for black ops, as well as working with a number of CIA and Special Forces agents - to secure arms for Afghan Guerillas during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
** Even more amazing is the CIA agent he worked with, Gust Avrokatos, and the guys Gust worked with. Gust once remarked of the immense balls of the Deputy Arms Minister of Egypt. Apparently, during a meeting with Gust for weapons to be sold to Israel with money from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia with the intention of Israel handing the weapons to Pakistan who would move them into Afghanistan (yeah), the Deputy Minister was also darting in and out of two other rooms that each smelled strongly of tobacco and hashish. Apparently the minister was making arms deals with the Iranians in the room on the left, Americans in the center room, and Iraqis on the right. This despite the fact that Iran and Iraq were at war, and Egypt's attitude towards America at the time was "we'll write insulting things with our right hands while you pass cash and guns to our left."
***In both the cases of Charlie and Gust that depends on how you define the term. They were [[La Résistance|underground quartermasters]], to be sure, but they were covered by the US government (and whatever other government was involved) and did not need to make a profit to pump their budget. They were dealing in arms so they were "arms-dealers" if you want to make a point but they were purchasers and smugglers not producers and not sellers.
***One of the problems in that operation was that for a long time the CIA was unwilling to introduce American ordinance because they wished to maintain [[Implausible Deniability|the pretense]] that America was not supplying the Afghans. That meant that while fungible cash could be gotten out of Congress, it had to be converted into hardware and transported by all sorts of convoluted and rather colorful means.
* Viktor Bout, a former Red (retired Russian GRU major) with a lot of military stuff for sale. He was supplying weapons to nearly everyone (except for people linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, or so he claims) for fifteen years, until he was arrested in Thailand last year. Nicknamed "The Merchant of Death". Also, the main character of ''Lord of War'', Yuri Orlov, was based on him.
* Norway allegedly has the world's largest export of weapons per capita. Notable because this is also the country with the Nobel Peace Price and a number of people trying to create peace in both the Middle East and South East Asia.
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