'A positive step in keeping people safe': 25 firearms handed in during Lincolnshire amnesty
Twenty-five potentially lethal weapons have been taken off the streets in Lincolnshire following a national firearms amnesty.
The four-week surrender scheme, which ended on Friday (February 27), focused on five types of Bruni-manufactured top-venting blank firers (TVBFs). Although originally sold as blank-firing guns, they have since been found to be readily convertible into viable firearms.
Lincolnshire Police confirmed 25 of the weapons were handed in locally.
Detective Chief Inspector Michael Wilding said: “These 25 surrendered firearms have been removed from the public domain which is a positive step in keeping people safe.
“While Bruni blank firers may have been purchased in good faith and with no criminal intent, we now know that these weapons have the potential to be converted into lethal weapons should they fall into the wrong hands.
"The amnesty was about taking illegal firearms off the streets as well as preventing them being used in criminal activity in the future.”
Across the country, hundreds of weapons were surrendered during the initiative. The National Police Chiefs’ Council confirmed 590 had been handed in within the first two weeks of February, with the final total still being calculated.
The weapons were deemed illegal after the National Crime Agency found they could be converted using common household tools.
Police have thanked those who came forward to surrender the items.