Amnesty for Turkish Top-Venting Blank Fire weapons

Lincolnshire Police are supporting a national amnesty to remove readily convertible weapons from criminal availability.

This follows an announcement by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) that Top-Venting Blank Fire (TVBF) weapons by Turkish manufacturers are now considered to be readily convertible into lethal barrelled weapons and are therefore illegal to possess.

A RETAY manufactured Top-Venting Blank Fire (TVBF).

Blow, Ceonic ISSC, Ekol and Retay are the TVBF models affected. Individuals and retailers in possession of these specific models can hand them in at any police station without facing criminal proceedings during the amnesty period.

The national amnesty, dubbed Operation Pivot, aims to remove readily convertible weapons from criminal availability to protect our communities while reducing the likelihood that these firearms will be available for criminal use.

Initial Firearms Classification Advisor and National Ballistics Intelligence Service Co-Ordinator, PC Gareth King, said: “The ease at how these types of weapons can be readily converted into lethal barrelled firearms is alarming. These types of weapons regularly change hands and move around the country for criminal use.

“Removing as many as we can from the public domain benefits not only the safety of people within Lincolnshire, but also nationally.”