chipper Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Saturday, January 5, 2008 Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has promised to outlaw 'deactivated' guns Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has promised to outlaw "deactivated" guns, which can easily be reconverted into active firearms for use in crime. And she said she was looking into changes which would allow witnesses of crime to enjoy protection from an earlier stage - possibly from the moment they first contact police. Ms Smith's comments come in the wake of a spate of suspected gang-related crimes over the New Year, including the fatal stabbing of a teenager in Erith, Kent, early on Saturday. She told the Sunday Telegraph that ministers and police need to do more to show they are on the side of "the majority in communities who know this is wrong and who want to work themselves to make a difference". Deactivated guns, which have been modified so that they no longer fire bullets, are not currently illegal and can be bought without a firearms certificate. Restrictions introduced in 1995 made it more difficult for them to be reactivated, but the Association of Chief Police Officers estimate that some 120,000 weapons from before that date remain in circulation. They can be restored to use within minutes and some have been implicated in crimes including the murder of TV presenter Jill Dando. Some 96% of all sub-machine guns recovered by the police had been reactivated, according to a parliamentary report in 2000. Ms Smith said: "I will find a way effectively to ban those guns and get them out of circulation." :argh: ..................................................... ASAP CHIPPER mod edit: forum is not party to any party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Mod Edit... Locked... already a thread on this http://www.hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=38&topic=6928.msg67107#msg67107 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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