Communism and gun bans go hand-in-hand. While you can certainly ban guns without imposing Communism on a country, its virtually unheard of for a Communist country to allow its subjects access to firearms for self-defense, and even arms used for hunting or competitive shooting are typically tightly regulated.
China is no exception. While the country produces world-class competitive shooters, there's no such thing as a culture of lawful gun ownership. The default in China is that civilians aren't allowed to own or possess firearms, with very limited carveouts for those taking part in state-approved activities. Even possessing gun parts can result in years behind bars, as one former competitive shooter has learned the hard way.
Tian Hong was recently sentenced to ten years in prison for illegally smuggling gun parts into China; not to help criminals build guns, but to help sport shooters repair their firearms. Her son Fu Yihan was sentence to six years behind bars for the same offense, and some members of China's small competitive shooting committee are daring to speak out against the punishment... albeit anonymously for the most part.
Tian and Fu, who were detained in 2023 and convicted in November last year, have appealed the ruling, arguing they “had no subjective intent to smuggle weapons” and acted to “support the development of shooting sports and address shortages in training equipment, without profit motives”.
And several professional shooters and coaches have jumped to the pair’s defence, saying using official channels to get much-needed parts and accessories is normally too cumbersome.
One athlete, who wished to remain anonymous, told mainland media the approval and procurement process for air rifles and their components was “too complicated and sometimes disrupts training and competitions”.
A national-level coach, using the alias Wang Gang, said he had previously bought accessories from Tian because “if you follow the official procedure and buy from Huaxing, the process can take one to two years, which affects training and competitions”.
“If a part malfunctions, the entire rifle becomes unusable,” he said. “But if you’ve missed that year’s purchase plan, you must wait until the next cycle to order again.”
Wang added that sporting rifles were frequently upgraded and it was impossible to predict when replacements would be needed.
“That is why we cannot stock many spare parts in advance,” he said. “By going through Tian’s company, we could get the parts immediately.”
According to several sources, most elite Chinese athletes still rely on imported equipment because it is better than that available locally.
Well that's Communism for you. You can't get what you need when you need it, and when you do finally get your hands on what you've been requesting, it's not nearly as well-made as what's produced in capitalist countries.
Just as virtually every Communist country tightly restricts firearms, every Communist country must also deal with a thriving black market in goods that are produced overseas or illicitly closer to home. Communist authorities are well aware of the underground economy operating within their borders, and tacitly allow it to continue because destroying it would have grave implications for above-ground businesses and society as a whole. Still, authorities routinely engage in selective enforcement, both to demonstrate their power and authority and to make examples of anyone bold enough to try to operate within even a sliver of sunlight.
Tian Hong, for example, owned a company called Guangzhou Piling Sports Technology Co Ltd. Tian's husband says the firm company's main products were shooting apparel and gloves for competitive shooters, with profited from selling shooting apparel and gloves, with aboveboard sales of gun components bringing in less than $6,000.
The thousands of gun parts that Tian and Fu are accused of illegally selling were worth far more than that, but even on the black market 2,500 parts like firing pins and sights isn't going to generate a ton of money, especially not over a ten-year period.
It sounds like Tian was trying to help the shooting sports community at least as much as she was trying to enrich herself, if not more. Either motive is completely unacceptable to the CCCP, of course, which is why she'll most likely be spending the next decade behind bars... and why her supporters in the small Chinese shooting sports community won't dare speak out publicly against the sentence she received.
