Three potentially deadly guns handed in at Preston during police’s firearms amnesty

Some of the guns handed to Lancashire Police during the amnesty

Three blank-firing guns which could have been converted to genuine firearms were handed in to police in Preston.

The weapons, known as top-venting blank firing (TVBF) guns, are designed to fire blanks but can be converted for deadly use by criminals. While such guns used to be legal to buy and could be used as starter pistols or in historical re-enactments, they are now illegal and possession has a sentence of up to 10 years.

In February, a national amnesty was held to allow people to surrender Turkish-manufactured TVBF models BLOW, CEONIC, EKOL and RETAY. Across the country, more than 1,000 were handed in without action taken against those who brought them.

While Lancashire saw just four of these guns and one other TVBF handed over, three of those were in Preston. Meanwhile, 11 other items including pistols, shotguns, BB guns and revolvers were handed in along with more than 100 blank-firing ammunition.

Jon Penson, Chief Inspector of Specialist Operations Firearm Licensing, led the operation within Lancashire and said the risk of gun crime across the county remains low.

He told Blog Preston: “The campaign was successful and we’ve taken these off the streets.

“The numbers reflect the level of gun crime in Lancashire. We don’t believe there’s a lot of these types of weapons in circulation but by taking these off the streets we’ve made the community safer.”

Anyone with information about illegal firearm use is asked to call police on 101 or report it anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800555111.

Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.