Antique firearms: gangs, guns and untraceable ‘ghost bullets

[Fedaykin]

A Guardian podcast has just dropped, didn't take long for my Spidey senses to detect dishonest reporting....basically a hit piece against reloading and antique firearms.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/ ... ts-podcast

Starts off with American journalist talking about the 2003 Birmingham mass shooting and loopholes via antique weapons. Mentions a MAC-10 was used but also mentions an old Spanish revolver that is really old and odd. He then states the pistol was a 1944 9mm Llama with odd hand made untraceable ammunition. He also states it is a 'Nearly antique' pistol whereupon my BS alarm goes off!

Firstly the Llama is not a revolver it is a semi-auto copy of the Colt 1911, secondly it is chambered in 9x23mm Largo that is a commercially available round. So the pistol is Section 5 and could never be classed as an antique that can be owned as a curiosity and the ammunition whilst hard to buy is not some totally odd curio.

Reality is our Gun laws are so successful that all the criminal gangs can get their hands on is obscure guns. Also article heavily pushes the idea that reloading is some form of secretive world of illicit ammunition manufacture. Sadly there are some idiots who have manufactured bullets for criminals but they are certainly not in any way the majority.

One surprising thing is NABIS don't get their usual time to spout off...

'Nearly Antique' 9x23 Llama

[Fedaykin]

Also FYI I double checked the UK Gov Obsolete calibre list and 9x23mm Largo is not on it so a 1944 Llama pistol could never be purchased or owned under Section 58!

'Nearly antique' my ass!

[Daryll]

'Nearly antique' my ass!

Its like the article itself... " nearly accurate"...

[Polchraine]

Sounds as though the article is about as accurate as a rifle with a bent barrel.

[Dark Skies]

Could they have not got a local journalist to tell the lies they needed to hear?
Given they're strapped for cash India Rakusen could have heard a similar, more accurate report, for less money, if she dropped a penny in the toilet bowl after a turnout.

People must be getting wise to The Gruniad's level of reporting as they're having to pass around a hat online for funding.

"The Guardian is editorially independent. And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all. But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work. "

Hopefully they'll peter out sooner rather than later.

I wonder why nobody seemed too bothered about how criminals were getting hold of a Mac 10?
I guess that would have raised all sorts of questions regarding how focussing on legal sporting shooters wasn't preventing criminals from tooling up.

[Fedaykin]

I do wonder if NABIS and Continuity ACPO had some hand in this, the language of it sounds familiar especially the description of Section 58 as a 'loophole' rather than something that is legal and regulated.

What also grates is the zero attempt to corroborate what she has been told by the American journalist, for that matter I would put money on him being an activist for Gun Control in the US with his own agendas. The impression he gave is the pistol involved is some form of antique in a totally obsolete calibre and accessible to the General public when in fact it is Section 5 or Section 7.3 and thus highly controlled!

[Fedaykin]

Another issue with this article is the talk about tractability of ammunition which if believed an episode of CSI is a simple matter of forensic analysis which will not only tell you where it was purchased and who on the production line made it. They even allude to the idea that commercial Ammunition has an easily traceable paper trail, total nonsense considering the mass produced nature of commercial ammunition means much of which at best has a factory and a year stamp on it. They keep on talking about tracing purchase orders after looking at the brass...anybody who actually shoots knows that would be all but impossible!

The more I listen to the podcast the more horrified I am at all the lies! The pistol under our law wasn't an antique under Section 58, it was produced in 1944 and based upon a design in common production now and the ammunition which they keep on describing as 'hand-crafted' ghost ammunition with no manufacturers mark on it would require commercial brass that would have a makers mark on it!

[Sim G]

The “nearly an antique” thing may be because of the American involvement. Under Federal law anything manufactured before 1898 is an antique. But some states class anything older than 50 years, which is still not made, as antique.

Reloading game under the legislative microscope with the VCR Act in 2006, which is why we now have to present an FAC when buying primers for firearm ammunition. We nearly had a ban then!