Well that will cut down on armed crime a lot...

[froggy]

No one disputes having an imitation firearm pointed at you would cause distress, the issue here is the police don't distinguish between the two when they display their haul. They rely on public ignorance and hope the public think they're all live firearms. Presenting an airsoft rifle, a deactivated gun or a C02 pistol as a genuine firearm, is a misrepresentation of the truth and is regarded by many as propaganda.

+1 , well said .

I wonder how many hard-core criminals surrender the tools of their trade ??
So, is the police, by perforning those masquerades, trying actually to make the streets safer or just complying to the wider dogma of inducing irrational fear of guns in the public to curb the right of legitimate sport shooters ?

[artiglio]

My local free paper in the last 2 weeks has a total of 5 reports in which illegal firearms are part of the story.

Firearms officers attended an incident where the accused had shown a rifle to someone at a property, as part of the same incident another person was arrested in connection with cannabis cultivation.

Revolver and ammunition had been recovered from a local property, a mother of 2 received 5 years but refused to reveal who she was looking after the firearm for.

2 armed robbers jailed for life neither lived in the area but had carried out a robbery locally. Sawn off shotgun and imitation pistol used.

2 local men jailed for robbing escorts at gunpoint in Dorset, used an imitation pistol.

Drugs raid locally 2 men sentenced one of whom was also sentenced for 9 counts of firearm possession in london

Not bad for a local rag, all of these offences will no doubt have or will have been reported at least twice, when the offence occured and result of prosecution, in the area where the offences took place and where the offenders came from.

With the possible exception of the first case ( no detail given of firearm) none were legally held "firearms" but all tarnish the reputation of the responsible shooting community in the eyes of most of the general public. And casual reading would lead many to assume that the offences all occurred locally.

All of these statistics will be used by the antis to attack our sport. I've no problem with amnesties and honest reporting but really do have a problem with the way the statistics are lumped together.

[Sim G]

Did any of you play the video that was in the middle of the article? On the table shown in the video is a representation of what had been handed in and it comprised of two revolvers, two sawn off shotguns, one semi auto pistol and an Uzi. The officer interviewed states, "shotguns, pistols and automatic weapons".

Likewise, he states that "any firearm is regarded as dangerous if held illegally or in the wrong hands"....

He doesn't say, "your target rifles and clay or sporting shotguns risk society". Couple that with the picture at the head of the article that seems to have caused such ridicule and beating of chests on here, is perhaps a stock library picture used by the press and not "a blatant lie peddled by an oppressive police force to brain wash the pathetic cowardly public"....

[HALODIN]

The point is a deactivated uzi is not a firearm...

The police "wrongly" believe that unless they're taking "firearms" off the street, then they're seen as failing to protect the public. I believe the public are more alarmed at the volume of guns the police say they're taking off the streets, the public must think firearms are rife when they're not. So showing huge hauls of imitation firearms is needlessly causing anxiety and probably having the opposite affect.

[Sim G]

Deactivated Uzi? Where was that mentioned?

[HALODIN]

We all know it is. They always are...

[joe]

There is a lot more proper firearms out there on the black market that the police haven't recovered
The meida, acpo and the home office use these hand in's etc as a proganda, that is, to make out that the only guns that criminals can get hold of are replica or antique guns thanks to gun control laws
The media then don't report all gun crimes but always focus on us gun crime - which furthers the brain washing of the sheep that the uk is a utipa when it comes gun laws and gun crime

That fool Paris Morgan stated that no one in the uk has been shot dead with an AR-15 ! Really
There has been murders with AK47s (drug dealers etc) and other shootings with uzis

In 1999 a crank and not some well connected gangster got hold of real ak47 and handgun and decided to open up on police petrol car in feltham in the middle of the afternoon!
Amazing the Co19 managed to take this idiot alive !

[froggy]

BTW, how many times does a police officer during a "gun amnesty" informs the member of the public that the "object" about to be surrended is actually legal ?





Have no Fear !!
An other terrifying weapon those nasty terrorists won't use !!

[joe]

BTW, how many times does a police officer during a "gun amnesty" informs the member of the public that the "object" about to be surrended is actually legal ?





Have no Fear !!
An other terrifying weapon those nasty terrorists won't use !!

He looks disgusted at the haul

[Gazza]

Sheeeesh!!!
I nearly followed through when I saw the officer in that picture holding the SMK air rifle. Are such things on the streets? Really?
You would think he would have dug through that pile of rifles to find an actual firearm for the snap.
I suppose I could be taking the picture out of context though, it could have been airgun collection being transported elsewhere