He might have been commenting on how difficult it is to purchase a decent handgun illegally in Europe. Many of the under the table arms dealers are Russian and generally sell things like the Baikal, a gas firing pistol converted to 9mmP and coming with a dodgy silencer. By all accounts those aren't great guns.
It's not totally accurate, however, a mate of mine is a Police Inspector dealing with gun crime in this area. The last arms dealer they arrested was carrying a couple of Kalashnikovs, several re-activated Ingrams, three .357 Colts as well as a selection of 9mm autos. By all accounts the crappy .22s and Saturday Night Specials are entry level shooters with anyone but the sixteen-year old wannabes take whatever they can get.
All of this is still very dangerous, in the UK you can get shot dead for having a piece of wood in a plastic bag. Just possessing an illegal gun carries a sentence that is longer than murdering someone. Other European countries are similarly draconian.
That said, you'd expect a CIA agent to have better contacts.
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