Thousands of illegal weapons seized by Spanish police

[bingham67]

Anyone think this is an incredible haul of guns just to think these type of weapons are doing the rounds in europe. I know they are deactivated but as the article says it appears they could be recommissioned by groups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/39272611

 

[Mynight]

That's quite an impressive collection. Disturbing also.


I wonder how easy it is to reactivate them .

 

[StriderX]

TEN THOUSAND assault rifles?

Jesus christ, hopefully this is a situation where most of a supply is caught rather than a tiny section...

 

[Roar87]

That's enough for a small army, fairly worrying.

 

[Josh]

Jesus christ

 

[Rroff]

That's quite an impressive collection. Disturbing also.


I wonder how easy it is to reactivate them .

Depends how they were deactivated. Ostensibly not that hard unless it involved removal of significant proportions of the bolt mechanism (which would need a ton of machining parts) or deforming the barrel - which again would involve machining a load of replacement barrels.

 

[Abraxaz1]

ETA? Starting up again or our Muslim friends.

World is so interesting these daya

 

[Rroff]

ETA? Starting up again or our Muslim friends.

World is so interesting these daya

Haven't look at the details but the last few hauls like this (though smaller) were enroute to Syria or the likes from the Belgian black markets.

 

[Uther]

''Officers said a smuggling group planned to recommission deactivated arms and traffick them into Spain, France and Belgium...''

Well that's not worrying at all...

 

[Rroff]

Oh looks like they were going the other way then - onto the Belgium weapons market rather than the other way around.

 

[adolf hamster]

Depends how they were deactivated. Ostensibly not that hard unless it involved removal of significant proportions of the bolt mechanism (which would need a ton of machining parts) or deforming the barrel - which again would involve machining a load of replacement barrels.

isn't the eu standard a welded barrel obstruction, a massive port cut in the barrel and the bolt face/firing pin cut down?

if it was all that the machining required to fix it you might as well make brand new guns.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

According to other reports they also found a workshop where the weapons were been reactivated. I would guess other countries do not have the same level of deactivation as we do.

 

[scorza]

Very worrying, it's only a matter of time before there's another Paris style attack. We're sitting ducks...

 

[Hedge]

I'm being stupid here but why deactivate weapons instead of melt them down?

 

[v0n]

It almost sounds like they arrested some Spanish eBay seller of film props and gun memorabilia - massive stash of deactivated weapons awaiting to be shipped into countries with almost zero gun violence? How are they going to prosecute? The flipping things are deactivated - you can legally give them to children as a toy in most European countries.

 

[J.T]

I hope there were no wooden Staff's in there, heard they are deadly.

 

[Edrof]

Just to allay any fears: lawfully deactivated weapons in the UK cannot be re-activated without the skills and machinery required to make a firearm from scratch anyway. In fact, it would be counter-productive to do so. Despite what the media says, deactivated firearms are very good things as the law-abiding collecting market takes hundreds of thousands of real weapons out of circulation each year.

 

[ttaskmaster]

I would guess other countries do not have the same level of deactivation as we do.

They do not and this was a problem at one stage. People would import deactivated weapons from other countries, where all they'd done was remove the firing pin and a couple of other easily replaced (and even legal to purchase in the UK) parts. This lack of understanding of the differences in standards led to the media splashing misinformation about reactivated weapons.
If it's been deactivated to current UK standard, it's pretty much a solid lump of metal.

I'm being stupid here but why deactivate weapons instead of melt them down?

In many cases, it's a piece of history.
The Lee Enfield .303 for example, almost a century of use that saw the UK through two world wars and still the choice for some shooters today. It's an absolute legend, alongside the Mauser 98K, .30cal M1 (Garand), the Mosin-Nagant used by Vasily Zaytsev, etc...
Things like the Brown Bess and Baker Rifle can still be shot with the right licences (black powder and shotgun/smoothbore), although the latter might require the rifling to be ground smooth
Weapons of obsolete calibre don't even need to be deactivated, although people do occasionally try to fashion round to fit... I understand that generally goes quite badly during test-firings, though!
But for the most part, deactivation skirts the RIF laws (because it's not an imitation) and the licence laws (because it cannot be fired). Even if you just intend to point it at someone sduring a robbery or something, the cost of the things means it's usually cheaper to get a plastic cap gun and paint it black.

I hope there were no wooden Staff's in there, heard they are deadly.

'Experts' on the matter suggest that was just an over-romanticised misunderstanding....

 

[TheMightyTen]

I hope there were no wooden Staff's in there, heard they are deadly.

It's the "Military Style" walking sticks you need to be worried about, to deactivate these, dodgy sheisters are simply painting them with flower motifs

 

[Edrof]

I'm being stupid here but why deactivate weapons instead of melt them down?

Why scrap them might be a better way of putting it. Deactivated weapons are bought by law-abiding private collectors; museums; people who train civilian, police and armed forces organisations; props masters - you name it. It's a long list. The most important reason not to destroy items mindlessly is the historical significance attached, and in some cases reverence that items can inspire. Imagine melting down a SMLE that had been carried through the mud of the Somme and sands of Dunkirk - utter heresy!

Here's mine, carried during WWII and, in it's own tiny way, one of the reasons why this post isn't in German. Gaze upon it's beauty and remember the sacrifices made by other men: