Why would anyone need several handguns?

[gejohnston]

19. hard question,

I can't remember if it was the ATF or a criminologist they hired that polled federal inmates, the big answer was "black market" and "friends and family". That begs the question, where did they get them. I think there is a mixture of theft from private collections, theft from police armories, cops selling on the black market. Of course, there is the flea market and naive private seller. There might be underground factories like one of the Australian biker gangs had going until it got busted. I doubt it here, although I'm surprised the Mexican cartels don't have them. That's how the Yakusa get theirs, usually illegal factories in Cebu.
Ultimately, all economies are demand based. That applies to guns as it does anything else. So, it is the criminal who is responsible.