Darra Adam Khel is a small village in Pakistan that is unlike any tiny town that you’ve ever been to. Like many places, especially small villages, Darra Adam Khel’s economy is driven by one business. Unlike, say a town in Texas that thrives solely on the cattle trade, the residents here get by on manufacturing and selling illegal firearms.
The lone street that runs through Darra Adam Kha is lined with shops that sell one thing: illegal firearms.
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With nearly 75% of the population involved in the trade, family gunsmith secrets are passed down from generation to generation.
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It is said that there is not a single firearm that a Darra Adam Khel gunsmith could not recreate in their shop.
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In total, there are about 2,500 gunsmiths in the village.
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The manufacturing of heavy-duty weaponry was deemed illegal when the Pakistani government learned that many of the firearms were going to terrorist organizations, but the people of Darra Adam Khel continue to make them anyway.
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However, the manufacturers argue that the guns that they make rarely leave the village’s limits.
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Some date the beginning of Darra Adam Khel’s gun manufacturing to 1857, when it was brought to the villagers by a British Army deserter.
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(via Amusing Planet)
Yikes. It’s nice to see a village work together on something, but I think I’ll be skipping this one over the next time I go on vacation.
