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Firearms amnesty launched across UK

 

A four-week firearms amnesty will run across the UK, intended to take lethal convertible guns off the streets.

The amnesty will run from 3 to 28 February and was launched after new evidence emerged about the potentially lethal risk posed by a particular type of blank firing gun.

'Top-venting blank firers’ (TVBFs) pose little risk on their own, but have recently been converted and used in serious violence. Since 2021, more than 800 have been recovered in criminal circumstances across the UK.

TVBFs are legal to buy in the UK without a licence, unless they are readily convertible. Tests by the National Crime Agency and police forces show models produced by four Turkish manufacturers – Retay, Ekol, Ceonic and Blow – are readily convertible and are therefore illegal.

After the amnesty period, anyone found in possession of one could face up to 10 years in prison. During the amnesty period, anyone handing in a Turkish-manufactured TVBF will not face prosecution for the illegal possession and will not have to give their details.

However, the weapons will be examined to determine if they’ve previously been used in serious violence or other criminality.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for the Criminal Use of Firearms, said: “The top-venting blank firers are used by criminals and can be converted into lethal firearms.

“During the last two years, policing and the NCA have identified and disrupted several workshops used to convert these pistols into lethal weapons.

“In the same period, large numbers of converted weapons were recovered across multiple locations, alongside thousands of rounds of blank calibre and modified ammunition.

“One investigation recovered more than 400 converted weapons from a single crime group. There is a strong demand for them evidenced by the numbers imported and subsequent recovery from criminals.

“Stopping the sale of these top-venting blank firers from being converted will go a significant way to help protect the public.”

Detective Superintendent Tim Mustoe, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “We are increasingly concerned about the risk posed by these weapons if they fall into the hands of criminals and those intent on causing serious violence on the streets of London.

“We’ve already seen their lethal potential in at least two cases here in London. We know they’ve also been used in many other non-fatal incidents too.

“The majority of top venting blank firers in circulation were bought lawfully by people with no ill intent. However we now know what can happen if they’re converted to do harm which is why it’s important that we recover as many as we can.

“I would urge anyone who has one of these weapons at home to do the responsible thing and hand it in at a police station. They will not face police action for possession of the gun at the point of surrender if they do so during the amnesty, but if they choose not to do so now and are found to have one of these guns at a later date, then the consequences will be quite different.”

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