Nearly 20 illegal firearms handed over to police following month-long amnesty campaign
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Cheshire Constabulary joined fellow forces and the National Police Chief’s Council and National Crime Agency in supporting a month-long amnesty operation to prevent easily convertible blank-firing weapons from falling into the hands of criminals.
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The amnesty campaign to remove BRUNI-manufactured Side/Top-Venting Blank-Firing (TVBF) firearms from our streets ran from Monday 2 February until Friday 27 February.
The aim of the operation was to prevent these illegal firearms from being used within criminal circles. Recent testing by the National Crime Agency has found that BRUNI-manufactured Side/Top-Venting Blank-Firing firearms can be converted to discharge lethal ammunition.
Even in cases where the weapons have not been converted, they have been used in criminal activity. Many of the firearms recovered from criminals have had their typically bright-coloured exteriors painted black to imitate real firearms.
Following the conclusion of the amnesty, these weapons are now illegal to possess in England and Wales. Anyone found in possession of a TVBF firearm could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
In Cheshire, gun-related crime remains low. However, Cheshire Police can confirm that following the county-wide amnesty, 19 of these now-illegal firearms were handed in to police.
Since being handed over, these firearms have been made safe by specialist officers within the Constabulary and will be destroyed, permanently preventing them from falling into the wrong hands.
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Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox, of the Force Intelligence Bureau, said:
“This amnesty was run with the sole purpose of allowing the public to safely dispose of any of these now-illegal firearms without judgement or repercussions.
“With that in mind, BRUNI-manufactured Side/Top-Venting Blank-Firing firearms are now illegal, and anyone found in possession of one will face the full extent of the law.
“We are very fortunate that, as a county, Cheshire has some of the lowest rates of gun-related crime in the country. Now that these weapons have been handed over to officers, we have taken further steps to make our streets even safer.
“On a local level, your neighbourhood officers will continue to work with partner agencies and organisations across the county to provide education around the dangers, rules and regulations surrounding firearms, ensuring that gun crime remains low and does not become a prevalent problem for the people of Cheshire in the future.”