Introduction. The article examines the problems of counteracting illegal arms trafficking and armed crime, taking into account the conditions and circumstances that have arisen, in particular, in connection with the special military operation. The author draws attention to the correlation and other dependencies of the types of crimes studied by him. The results of the analysis and their scientific interpretation allowed us to formulate a number of proposals to improve the effectiveness of criminal-legal and special-criminological prevention of crimes of these types. Methods. A number of general scientific and special methods were used in the study. The first group includes system analysis, the method of hypotheses and assumptions; the second group includes the statistical method, the study of reports of crimes committed by armed persons and illegal arms trafficking in Internet channels, the analysis of criminal case materials, questioning of employees of inquiry and preliminary investigation bodies who acted as experts, a survey of citizens using the «Google Forms» software package, statistical observation, and document examination. Results. The analysis and generalization of the elements of the subject of the study showed that the dynamics of crime related to the application and use of arms (both lethal and non-lethal) has an inverse correlation with the circulation of arms, including legal ones, which, given the shortcomings of its legal regulation, negatively affects the state of law and order and the fight against armed crime. Proposals have been formulated for adjusting the «arms» and criminal legislation, and for improving the practice of counteracting armed crime and illegal arms trafficking.