Amnesty to stop criminals converting guns

The Lincolnshire Police Force is supporting a national amnesty in a bid to stop organised criminals turning guns designed to fire blanks into lethal weapons.

This follows an announcement by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) that Top-Venting Blank Fire (TVBF) guns by Turkish manufacturers are now considered to be easily converted to fire live rounds and therefore illegal to possess.

Blow, Ceonic ISSC, Ekol and Retay are the TVBF models affected and are known to be popular in the world of organised crime. Individuals and retailers in possession of these specific models can hand them in at any police station without facing criminal proceedings during the amnesty period – February 3 – 28. After that period anyone caught in possession of the named guns could face up to 10 years in prison.

The national amnesty, dubbed Operation Pivot, aims to remove readily convertible weapons from criminal availability to protect our communities while reducing the likelihood that these firearms will be available for criminal use.

Initial Firearms Classification Advisor and National Ballistics Intelligence Service Co-Ordinator, PC Gareth King, said: “The ease at how these types of weapons can be readily converted into lethal barrelled firearms is alarming. These types of weapons regularly change hands and more around the country for criminal use.

“Removing as many as we can from the public domain benefits not only the safety of people within Lincolnshire, but also nationally.”