aris Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 The automatic rifles used in the terrorist attacks in Paris last month may have been decommissioned weapons legally bought in Slovakia and reconverted to fire live ammunition, euronews can reveal. http://www.euronews.com/2015/02/18/charlie-hebdo-attacks-eu-gun-laws/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHE Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 This is a non-story about nothing. The simple fact of the matter is that although we legitimate shooters are heavily regulated, and although the police try extremely hard to catch criminals who have guns, very little is being done to stop guns getting into our country, and my guess is that it is much the same in other EU countries too. My company imports goods from the far east. In the last 10 years, only one of our containers has been checked by HM Customs... How many of the containers carrying perishable food supplies, where time is critical, are checked by HMC? Even less, or so I'm told. For this to change, the government needs to give HMC adequate resources, and instead they are cutting their resources. So, if a criminal wants to import some AK 74's (or AK47's if you prefer the press version) why would they bother to re-convert decomissioned ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Porous borders and a thriving black market. A glut of military hardware in the former Soviet Bloc countries. It doesn't take much working out really, we regularly drive in and out through Dover, can't remember the last time we were checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick miller Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I wish HMRC would apply the same lax approach to anything I buy from the States or China, everything gets a customs, handling and additional shipping charge added plus VAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compo90 Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I have driven to france loads doing the dover to calais crossing and harwich to hook of holland. Been stopped and checked once in about 10-12 journeys.....I opened the boot it was full to the top with clothes, camping stuff, fishing rods and french wine.......I said to the customs guy, if I'm taking all that out, your helping me pack it back in........he laughed, closed the boot and bid me good day...... I have a brother in law who imports electronics for his business, his containers are never checked. I know of someone who brought back from france, exploding mole traps...... They blow up the mole when triggered...... That many journeys and so few checks I'm not suprised things slip through. Dover is more like a service station than a port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlerob Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 If HMRC can grab a penny they soon act on it and stop it at customs but the trurth of the matter if a criminal want a gun to protect them self to hold up a corner shop or to go on a killing massacre they will get there hands on one no matter what laws are in placed and how tight gun control is there always away to get one where being go steal it or even to make one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I wish HMRC would apply the same lax approach to anything I buy from the States or China, everything gets a customs, handling and additional shipping charge added plus VAT. The States yes I get caught every time, but China goods seem to get through unchallenged every time. I don't fully understand why, it was suggested thats because they come via a hub in Europe somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I watched a programme a few years ago about CID investigations of a group of people under investigation for numerous reasons of criminal activity in and around Bolton, Lancs. They logged their various SIM cards and plotted locations, various routes and who was meeting who in various european countries. It was found they were travelling to and from the mainland several times a year and decided to stop one of the vehicles as part of a 'routine' customs check on entry to see if they could find the reason without blowing the investigation, and discovered, welded into a false floor in the chassis, about a dozen Russian semi automatic pistols and hundreds and hundreds of rounds of ammo. The investigation team were astounded, thinking it was drug related rather than arms. The investigation was immediately ended with the arrests of everyone under surveillance and the authorities left to dwell on the prospect of just how many times those trips had been made and how many pistols were potentially now in circulation within the criminal fraternity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10gaugewannabee Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 pretty well all hand guns, auto and semi weapons in the uk and europe come from the eastern european states and via the middle east most are basically put in the boot of the car and just driven to here average price for a full auto ak47 variant plus 1,000 rounds in russia to a westerner is $500, you can get them cheaper in syria for $200. best i was offered $100 for two i can and have repeatedly driven from my house to dover, 4 hours calais to berlin 9hrs calais to rome 14hrs moscow is 30hrs, belerus is 35hrs, from calais i can if i wanted to drive to china andbring back any thing i care for when you think of the thousands of people who live in the uk and travel home every so often and bring back one item, you can see that thousands of items can be brought back a day if it was needed. as for bringing them through customs. well thats a lot harder than you think. i know i go through dover 6-12 times a year and know how well they can find things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) One of the Lithuanian guys who used to work for me said they get hassled by customs going out of the country about how much cash they have on them. There are rules apparently, but nobody seems bothered what they are bringing in. Crazy or what? Most of them bring in cigarettes, Edited February 20, 2015 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10gaugewannabee Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 you will find that most eastern europeans drive to and from home when they are skint or first here as the fags they bring back covers the cost of the trip uk to france on the ferry is £50 return, petrol to poland used to cost me two tanks so say £140 uk prices, to make £200 profit on fags is easy as they can be very cheap in some countries put a hand gun in there and you can double your money easy get caught though and its some serious time i used to love the idea of a weekend shooting holiday in europe, but with all the risks and so many countries so tight on terrorists i have not bothered to look into it any more, i thought it would be a waste of time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 It's an interesting idea how easy is it to move guns within Europe and the answer is very. Even from the uk I've had a couple of deactivated m16's to move recently and though declared at Dover it has been far more simple than I expected. Though these are "art" and painted in a very strange fashion....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 The son of a friend of mine is in a WW1 re-enactment group and they drive back and forward all the time with a shed load of deacts but I don't think anyone ever checks them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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