We are happy to announce a brand new site called The Armory. It focuses exclusively on the sale of small-arms weaponry for the purpose of self defense. The issue of whether weapons should be sold on Silk Road has been brought up and debated too many times to count. I have heard good arguments on both sides of the debate and had to really think hard before choosing to take this direction. Here is a brief summary of my thoughts on the matter and why I chose to spin-off a new site rather than ban weapon sales completely, or allow them to continue here: First off, we at Silk Road have no moral objection to the sale of small-arm weaponry. We believe that an individual's ability to defend themselves is a cornerstone of a civil society. Without this, those with weapons with eventually walk all over defenseless individuals. It could be criminals who prey on others, knowing they are helpless. It could be police brutalizing people with no fear of immediate reprisal. And as was seen too many times in the last century, it could be an organized government body committing genocide on an entire unarmed populace. Without the ability to defend them, the rest of your human rights will be eroded and stripped away as well. That being said, there is no reason we have to force everyone into a one-size-fits-all market where one group has to compromise their beliefs for the benefit of another. That's the kind of narrow thinking currently used by governments around the world. It's why we are in this mess in the first place. The majority in many countries feel that drugs and guns should be illegal or heavily regulated, so the minority suffers. Here at Silk Road, we recognize the smallest minority of all, YOU! Every person is unique, and their human rights are more important than any lofty goal, any mission, or any program. An individual's rights ARE the goal, ARE the mission, ARE the program. If the majority wants to ban the sale of guns on Silk Road, there is no way we are going to turn our backs on the minority who needs weaponry for self defense. So, without further ado, I give you our answer to this whole conundrum: The Armory: ayjkg6ombrsahbx2.onion The Armory is run on the same codebase that runs Silk Road, with all of the same features you know and love. However, it is run completely independently with it's own servers, Bitcoin wallets, databases, etc. If it becomes popular, we'll even look into putting it under separate management. A note to vendors: If you have items in the Silk Road weapons category, please relist them at The Armory asap. We will be shutting down weapons sales on Silk Road on Sunday March 4th.