An assessment of the state of firearm sales on the Dark Web

Figures & data

Table 1. Firearms’ average advertised price (USD) and average MSRPs (USD) by action type.

Type of firearm	Number of Firearms (%)	Average Advertised Price	Average MSRP (Lower/Higher)
Handguns
Semi-Automatic	99 (34.49)	$744.61	$660.68/$686.28
Revolver	15 (5.23)	$742.81	$759.50/$760.68
Single/Double Action	4 (1.39)	$684.25	$622.75/$643.50
Handgun (Total)	118 (41.11)	$742.33	$671.95/$694.29
Long Guns
Semi-Automatic	134 (46.69)	$1,110.51	$1,900.33/$2,563.55
Bolt Action	9 (3.14)	$1,355.40	$3,099.35/$3,099.35
Pump Action	26 (9.06)	$861.27	$380.15/$380.15
Long Gun (Total)	169 (58.89)	$1,085.06	$1,730.31/$2,256.84

Notes: Both higher and lower MSRPs were provided if multiple price points for the weapon were available (r(386) = 0.845, p < 0.001). Relatedly, if a weapon’s price was advertised using a value range (e.g., $100-200), a conservative estimate was calculated by using the lower price point. Based on Wald Chi-Square test of equality between different action types, assuming heteroscedasticity, there were significant differences between average advertised price and average MSRP across the different long gun action types (Wald Chi (4) = 111.3, p < .05), but not across the different handgun action types (Wald Chi (4) = 2.55, p = n.s.).

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of key variables with bivariate correlations.

Variables		Handguns
	N		Mean	SD	Correlations
					1	2	3	4	5
1. Advertised Price Point (log)	118		6.45	0.66
2. MSRP (log)	118		6.30	0.78	0.525***(r)
3. Semi-Automatic	118		0.84	0.37	0.032(p)	−0.099(p)
4. Product Replacements	118		0.03	0.18	0.156(p)	0.174(p)	−0.681*(t)
5. Customer Service	118		0.40	0.49	−0.027(p)	−0.289**(p)	0.548**(t)	−1.00(t1)
6. Shipping Method	118		0.50	0.50	−0.028(p)	0.013(p)	0.392*(t)	−1.00(t1)	0.722***(t)
Variables		Long Guns
	N		Mean	SD	Correlations
					1	2	3	4	5
1. Advertised Price Point (log)	169		6.88	0.46
2. MSRP (log)	169		7.03	0.95	0.307***(r)
3. Semi-Automatic	169		0.79	0.41	0.070 (p)	0.363***(p)
4. Product Replacements	169		0.11	0.32	0.164*(p)	0.155*(p)	−0.110(t)
5. Customer Service	169		0.14	0.34	−0.070(p)	0.049(p)	−0.022(t)	0.618***(t)
6. Shipping Method	169		0.69	0.47	−0.218**(p)	−0.174*(p)	0.001(t)	−1.00***(t1)	−0.840***(t)

Notes: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; (r) stands for Pearson’s correlation coefficient between two continuous variables; (p) stands for point-biserial correlations for binary and continuous variables; (t) stands for tetrachoric correlations between binary variables; (t1) product replacement and shipping methods provisions never appear in the same ads.

Table 3. Stepwise linear regression models separated by gun type.

Variables		Handguns			Long guns
	Basic 1 B (SE B)	Extended 1 B (SE B)	Full 1 B (SE B)	Basic 2 B (SE B)	Extended 2 B (SE B)	Full 2 B (SE B)
MSRP	0.449 (0.158)**	–	0.495 (0.152)**	0.149 (0.042)***	–	0.133 (0.040)***
Semi-Automatic	–	0.166 (0.165)	0.165 (0.142)	–	0.083 (0.074)	−0.032 (0.087)
Product Replacements	–	0.658 (0.148)***	0.320 (0.175)	–	0.149 (0.200)	0.101 (0.193)
Customer Service	–	−0.031 (0.112)	0.269 (0.076)***	–	−0.348 (0.174)*	−0.325 (0.167)
Shipping Method	–	−0.003 (0.094)	−0.183 (0.111)	–	−0.297 (0.146)*	−0.257 (0.138)
Intercept	3.614 (1.028)***	6.297 (0.171)***	3.160 (0.978)**	5.830 (0.280)***	7.047 (0.154)	6.180 (0.259)***
Model Fit	N = 118 F(1,116) = 8.12** Adj. R^2 = 0.270	N = 118 F(4,113) = 12.52*** Adj. R^2 = – 0.002	N = 118 F(5,112) = 11.84*** Adj. R^2 = 0.289	N = 169 F(1,167) = 12.45*** Adj. R^2 = 0.089	N = 169 F(4,164) = 1.91 Adj. R^2 = 0.083	N = 169 F(5,163) = 3.60** Adj. R^2 = 0.141

Notes: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001