Illegal guns confiscated by Hunan police.

A lucrative but deadly trade in unlicensed weapons has attracted some Chinese farmers to make guns for money, and their whole county sometimes joins in.

The illegal guns made by farmers were as good as military ones except they don't have grooves in the gun barrel for accuracy. But that only made them more powerful in close-range shootings, said a police officer with Hunan Province who seized 558 illegal gun makers and sellers last year, Beijing News reported yesterday.

It only cost less than 200 yuan (US$29.40) to make a gun, which can be sold for thousands. The huge profit has pushed farmers into joining the business, the report said.

The Hunan case unveiled two major illegal gun production mills in Hualong in Qinghai Province and Songtao in Guizhou Province.

Both counties were poverty-stricken and making guns was the villagers' route to some quick cash.

In Songtao County, local police busted several gun selling rings from 1992 to 1996, seizing almost 9,000 guns and 18 cannons.

Making guns was not a hard job, the report said. A major suspect seized in last year's Hunan case, Long Anying, taught himself and became an expert in only 10 days.

Demand for guns has been on the rise, the report said. Some illegal mine owners were the biggest buyers. Some of them build their own armed forces to fight for control of rich mines.

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