A recent amnesty in Birmingham allows owners to surrender illegal Turkish firearms without facing prosecution, aiming to reduce gun crime and enhance community safety.
TVBFs originally fire only blanks. However, criminals can modify them to look like real guns. This makes them dangerous. Four models—Retay, Ekol, Ceonic, and Blow—are now illegal. Possession can lead to a 10-year prison sentence.
Since 2021, over 800 guns have been recovered in the UK. Converted blank firers have been linked to four homicides in the last two years. Last week, police seized nine TVBFs in Birmingham, along with items for converting them.
The amnesty runs until February 28, 2025. It allows owners to surrender their TVBFs without fear of prosecution. Many people may not know these weapons are now illegal.
If you have a TVBF, you can take it to a local police station. You can also surrender other unwanted firearms anytime. During the amnesty, you won’t face prosecution for illegal possession, and your details won’t be recorded.
Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas emphasized the importance of this initiative. He noted that while gun crime is rare in the West Midlands, the potential threat from these firearms is significant. Surrendering them helps keep the community safe from criminal use.
