In early 2025, an amnesty will take place in England and Wales for owners of specific blank-firing firearms, known for their convertibility into deadly weapons, to surrender them to law enforcement.
This follows tests by the National Crime Agency (NCA) confirming that four Turkish-made top-venting blank-firing models are readily convertible, making them illegal under UK law.
Top-venting blank firers (TVBFs) can legally be bought in the UK by individuals over 18, as they are originally designed with fully blocked barrels to discharge only blank cartridges. However, four models – identified as Retay, Ekol, Ceonic ISSC, and Blow – have become popular among criminals who convert them to fire live ammunition. Although sold with bright colours on at least 50% of their surface, these guns are often repainted black to closely resemble real firearms.
Since 2021, UK law enforcement has recovered over 800 converted blank firers. Last year, discharges from these guns outnumbered incidents involving genuine lethal-purpose firearms, with 64 recorded discharges compared to 42 for original firearms. Disturbingly, the four models were involved in at least four homicides in the UK in the past two years.
The NCA, with support from the Home Office and police chiefs, conducted tests earlier this year, which demonstrated the ease of converting these firearms with basic tools and minimal skills. As a result, these brands are now classified as prohibited under the Firearms Act 1968, and law enforcement has instructed importers and retailers to halt trading them. Border Force will also seize any future imports of these models.
The amnesty will run from 3rd February to 28th February 2025, allowing owners to safely hand in their TVBFs at local police stations without prosecution. After this period, possession of any of these firearms could result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention, underlined the importance of public cooperation in reducing these weapons’ availability: “Dangerous criminals will always look for new ways to acquire weapons, but we remain vigilant in taking them out of their hands. These weapons are illegal, and it is vital any member of the public possessing these blank firers hands them into their local police station.”
NCA Deputy Director Charles Yates described the threat posed by converted TVBFs, despite the UK’s relatively low firearms crime rate: “Protecting the public from the threat of firearms is a principal priority for the NCA and partners in policing and Border Force. It is crucial that we work with industry partners to prevent any further access to these easily converted firearms.”
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on criminal firearm use, added: “These firearms are very appealing to criminals and offenders who convert them can generate large profits. Stopping the sale of these guns will go a significant way to help protect the public.”
If these models ate ‘readily convertible’, then why were they allowed into the UK in the first place??
It suggests that somone in the Home Office. wasn’t doing their job properly.
I think people should be compensated for the loss of their legally purchased and govenment confiscated property.
I wonder- ‘readily convertible’ into what? If for example you have a blank firing pistol that’s similar to an ordinary model but with a blocked barrel then you could drill the barrel out with ‘basic tools’, but you wouldn’t recreate the rifling, so your bullets would tumble if they travelled any distance. That’s assuming you were able to source appropriate bullets in the first place. Of course if you can source bullets then you don’t need anything much more sophisticated than a metal pipe and a nail in order to fire them anyway. Maybe the Home Office should calm down.
These guns are a major issue in violent crime with especially minor or mid tier gangs. You are correct in that the barrels are drilled out, but instead of using conventional bullets criminals will often glue air gun pellets to the end of the blank. It may sound comical and not a particular threat, but at close range there lethal. Also if you think a gun without rifling isn’t a big deal, the 10,000s that died in the Napoleonic wars would likely disagree.
Particularly with a certain type of blank that many of these blank fire replicas are chambered for.
I’ve seen images of ball bearings patched into 8mm blanks, via a TV report on criminal conversions a few years back.
These replicas are deliberately made of materials that won’t withstand the pressures of firing, but Billy the blagger doesn’t care about that, the fact that it will likely turn into a grenade when he pulls the trigger, won’t even occur to the idiot…
You require a chamber made of firearms grade steel, this is vented via a vertical hole, to withstand and vent chamber pressure.
The barrel should be made of solid stock alloy, i.e monkey metal, that certainly won’t.
As much as I dislike bans, perhaps it’s time to ban blank firing replica firearms outright??
I don’t see why you’d want to ban blank firing guns just to stop Billy Blagger from blowing his own hand off. That sounds like a useful object lesson in itself.
The problem is Ian, it still might go bang, two or three times, before it goes ‘boom’!!
A 7mm ball baring, or similar projectile, blasting along at 1000 or more fps is potentially lethal at short range.
This sort of makeshift firearm will likely be used at ranges of a few feet, it’s quite capable of killing at this sort of range, so like I said, perhaps we should move them all onto Sec5 and ban them.
Due to changes made in the firearms act, a Home Secretary has the power to move any particular class of firearm to Sec 5 if they feel it’s required, so I’m sure they could institute a ban on blank fire replicas without too much parliamentary shenanigans.
Declare them to be a ‘class of firearm’ and pop them onto Sec 5, job done…
Come to think of it, why do people have them anyway and where do they ‘shoot’ them without the police being called??🤔🤔
Unfortunately just because we dont see the reason for them, other people do enjoy collecting them and we are meant to be a free country. Banning things all over the place is why alot of people in the US see us as not a free country.
I dont see why people drink alcohol, it kills millions, costs us millions and would be a class A drug if found today. However I stand by your freedom to drink if you want too. We are meant to be a Free country
I suspect the bayonets did for more of them than the muskets. Being lethal only at close range and with limited repeating capability undermines the purpose of a ranged weapon, which is why the armies of the Napoleonic era remained very fond of sharp, pointy things.
A well trained marksman could shoot with reasonable accuracy out to 60 (or more) yards with with a brown bess.
‘Minute of man’, was certainly possible with a well trained soldier and a well patched ball out to 100 yards.
To add to this, you would have lines of Brown Bess, sending a wall of lead down range.
The injuries they inflicted were absolutely horrendous!!
It’s funny you actually think that, its a well known fact in the era of liner warfare most armies broke before they got within bayonet range. Also given most gang shootings take place in under 10 meters, then it really isn’t making a difference.
The real issue is not dealing with the gangs who use weapons and young people carrying knifes . Banning is bolting the door after the horse has escaped. only way would be to seal off areas of towns and search everyone. A man on you tube cut rifling with tool guided with spiral slot cut in plastic tube with many passes.
The last modern rifled tank – Challenger – is just switching to smoothbore, is it not?
“Readily convertible” always seems to be used as a big catch-all without any specifics being added into the mix.
The bloke who invented the first Sten gun in WW2 did so, at home at his kitchen table, with items bought over the counter at his local hardware store on the way home from work.
If the demand/motivation exists then people will find a way to do all sorts of things that they shouldn’t.
These converted blank firers WILL be very dangerous to the user, which is not a bad thing; but so were the single shot stamped metal Liberator .45ACP pistols supplied to the European resistance units.
Sadly, just more proof that more laws don’t stop folk doing illegal things just because you add an extra layer of legislation (which they ignore by default anyway)!
Its said their are shelves in the Houses of Parliament with 4 miles of books of laws. Laws are a poor substitute for dealing with the gangs and criminals.
BUT the LAWS are what we ALL have to adhere to and comply with, both sides of the fence – law enforcement/courts & citizens – and IF there are 4 miles of books about laws in Parliament, THEY are the ones who made the laws and keep adding to that long line = when IMPLEMENTING the existing laws would more than suffice, IF done properly. Another issue in & of itself….
They haven’t even mentioned compensation?? Many thousands of people own these and paid good hard money for them and should be fairly compensated now that they are being suddenly snatched away, further infringing our freedom. Additionally they haven’t even specified which models are being restricted, just the brand name 🤷♂️
Hey a piece of 4×2 is lethal at short range should we ban all timber merchants this is getting ridiculous anyone that can get hold of ammunition for these guns will have access to the real thing the prob with this country is that only the police and criminals have access to firearms we as citizens dont have the opportunity to defend ourselves against people who brig this stuff into our homes sorry but with the Americans your less likely to go breaking ing a house if u think youll end up dead
I’m sick and tired of all this nobbling any form of of gun ownership…it will plastic ones next..catterpults…air guns but it’s the responsible owners who are nailed….if I had one they would have to pay me what I would have paid b4 handing anything in
Im totally with u its ridiculous since the incident in Hungerford there was a knee jerk reaction from the government to ban any possession of a hand gun in the uk this was totally absurd because the person used a long gun to commit most of the killings . But it means that even our Olympic pistol shooting team have to travel to Belgium to practice absolutely ridiculous
It’s just to appear someone is doing there job