Gun Runners

The Gun Runners are a weapons manufacturer and merchant company operating out of the Fortress in the Boneyard. In 2281, it has branches in many areas, including one near The Strip in the Mojave Wasteland.

Background
The people who established the Gun Runners were originally a small-time gang from the Hub. The promise of new territory and influence appealed to them. They did indeed find it, though not in the way they expected it. The gang settled into a factory in northeast Los Angeles. On top of usual gang activities, the Gun Runners started trading weapons taken from their marks or imported from their contacts back at the Hub to local communities and gangs.

The profits made on this deal prompted them to abandon their gang ties and focus on trade. Rather than keep importing weapons, the Gun Runners decided to put the machines inside the factory to use. Coupled with the supply of scrap metal around their factory, they established themselves as machinists and gunsmiths, capable of manufacturing military-grade weapons and ammunition with the use of pre-War schematics.

They had to start importing raw materials from Adytum to sustain their business. The situation was stable and generated profits for both sides, until the Regulators established their rule over Adytum. Exploiting the Gun Runners' reliance on imports, the Regulators started squeezing the Gun Runners, buying their weapons at bargain prices and pocketing the difference in value upon resale. Although the Gun Runners grew desperate in search of another source of supply, the deathclaws, which took up residence in the Boneyard made finding one or moving shop entirely an impossibility. The entire situation was a problem for Gabriel, their informal leader, especially since the deathclaws kept driving customers away and leaving Zack, their master merchant, without much to do.

Mojave Wasteland
The New Vegas branch was established in 2155. The Gun Runners and Crimson Caravan are two of NCR's oldest and most powerful merchant houses. In time, they became what was commonly called an unofficial branch of the army. In 2281, the faction dominates the weapons market Army contracts account for a substantial part of their business, up to 90% in contested regions such as New Vegas and Hoover Dam. Their influence is the envy of competing businesses, but the Gun Runners wield too much influence in New California for either Crimson Caravan or the Van Graffs to do anything about it. Their weapons are also utilized by NCR presidential bodyguards.

The Gun Runners are a weapon manufacturing outfit spread throughout the American southwest, working in groups without management. Gun Runner caravans are comprised of one of two brahmin loaded with weapons and protected by armed guards. If the guards are killed, the weapons cases are rigged to explode if someone without proper clearance tries to access them. The group also refurbishes and restores old and damaged weapons to full functionality.

In the Mojave Wasteland, the local factory supplies the NCR at McCarran. Weapons are constructed on-site and also available for purchase via a Vendortron robot. The Gun Runners refuse to deal in energy weapons due to every caravan that carried these weapons being wiped out or ambushed. The Gun Runners believe it was a rogue unit of the Brotherhood of Steel and rather than deal with the constant losses, they abandoned the market to the Van Graffs.

Appearances
The Gun Runners appear in Fallout and Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * The 10 of Hearts card in the Fallout: New Vegas Collector's Edition Caravan deck represents the Gun Runners with two vices and several bullet casings.
 * Joshua Sawyer stated that the Gun Runners use pre-War schematics to manufacture their products.