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British Gun Turn-In: Heavy on Air Guns, Low on Ammunition

Dean Weingarten - comments No comments

England promoted a national firearms amnesty/turn-in during 2017. In Bristol, 313 “guns” were turned in, along with a whopping 120 rounds of ammunition. That’s one round of ammo for every 2.6 “guns.”. I put “guns” in quotes, because . . .

only 186 of the 313 items were actual firearms. Most of those had no ammunition for them. Here’s the breakdown from bristolpost.co.uk:

Flare 3
Shotgun 80
Rifle 25
Air weapon 96
BB gun 14
Pistol/Revolver 81
Starter pistol 11
Slaughtering gun 2
Stun gun 1

More than 35 percent of the guns (110) are air-guns (BB guns are air-guns). That’s a higher percentage than observed during Australia’s 2017 gun amnesty: a bit more than 25 percent.

The ammunition turn-in at Bristol was underwhelming. To create a scary hypothetical, the author had to dig deep.

For example, a .38 revolver was surrendered and, separately, a bag of live .38 bullets. The two combined would have been a lethal weapon that could have fallen into the hands of criminals and caused significant harm or death.

The implication: almost none of the guns turned in had ammunition turned in with them. That fits the given numbers.

The U.S. has over 400 million guns. No one keeps track, but during the four years of the .22 ammunition bubble, approximately 20 billion rounds of .22 ammunition was sold in the United States. Most was stored, not shot. I don’t have an estimate for centerfire ammunition, but it would be in the multiple billions of rounds.

It is not unusual for a single firearm aficionado to have 50,000 rounds of ammunition. Private gun owners in the United States could easily possess a 100 billion rounds of ammunition or more.

The United States will not be following Australia or England anytime soon.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch

0 thoughts on “British Gun Turn-In: Heavy on Air Guns, Low on Ammunition”

  1. “I don’t have an estimate for centerfire ammunition, but it would be in the multiple billions of rounds.”

    Heck, I’ve got that much in my closet…

    Reply
  2. If your goal is to disrupt the visual pattern of a gun, fine. But if you’re trying to solve the ‘concealment’ issue on person, this not only fails but makes things worse because with a normal gun you have lots of accessories (i.e. holsters) already in existance to deal with the problem.

    Reply
  3. Just as many Catholics use birth control, there are many Democrats that own and shoot as well as carry firearms. This divisiveness is the problem in our United States. These hot button issues need to be put on the back burner for a while. Maybe democrat gun owners should start a letter writing campaign, especially in states where guns are favored. Living on Ca, makes it impossible for me to write any elected official about gun rights or immigration, but those of you in other states could.

    Reply
  4. I have NRA Carry Guard, but that’s not what I’m going to post about.

    The incident which I hold is the most important legal case for concealed carriers in recent history is the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting. It terrifies me,and it should terrify anyone who carries a firearm.

    George Zimmerman was on his way to Target, lived in a gated community which was experiencing a crime wave at the hands of young black men who didn’t live there. He saw a young black man with his hood up possibly casing condos. He did what we are supposed to do, which is call 911. He also did what a responsible citizen SHOULD do, which is attempt to get as much information as possible about a fleeing suspicious person for the responding officer. He didn’t “stalk” Martin. He stopped following as soon as the 911 dispatcher(NOT A COP) advised him to–and immediately began making arrangements to meet the RO at a neutral location.

    He was assaulted by a younger, taller, violent young man who straddled him and was in the process of bashing him in the face when Zimmerman managed to fire one life-saving shot at contact distance into the heart of Trayvon Martin. There has rarely been a more cut-and-dried self defense case.

    And if his name had been Javier Gonzalez(to more accurately reflect his ethnic identity) or Martin’s had been Skylar Bennington, this case would never have reached the ridiculous heights it did. But it happened during a slow news cycle and the media jumped on it. GEORGE ZIMMERMAN brings to mind an image of white guy, not the chubby Hispanic GZ actually is. But then the president got involved, and the sell-out governor of Florida appointed a special prosecutor simply to stave off potential riots being ginned up by the organized Left(and Eric Holder’s DOJ, for cryin’ out loud).

    The State of Florida spent millions—the town of Sanford spent untold sums paying police to deploy to handle the protests—and Zimmerman incurred huge personal and financial consequences—while the end result was exactly the same as the State’s Attorney determined the day after the shooting.

    But Zimmerman’s life is ruined. His family lives in fear of some brainwashed zealot attacking them. Their lives are ruined. WHY? Because the media was irresponsible and the government was evil.

    If you are white and end up shooting and killing a black teenager who is unarmed, you can very likely be screwed. This happened in FLORIDA, the original “shall-issue” CCW permit state. FLORIDA, the “Stand Your Ground” state. And neither of those facts mattered once the media and Obama decided to focus their attention on one chubby Hispanic who had a rock solid self-defense case.

    It’s just about enough to make one consider carrying a revolver and just leaving if the person against whom you defend yourself fits a certain demographic.

    Reply
  5. Attention cops: Cry me a river. If your job is too difficult, find another line of work…Do I want to see every cop go home alive after his shift? Absolutely YES…The problem arises when cop safety supersedes citizen safety…
    Cops already wait “for the shooting to stop”. Witness Columbine, where cops stood on their thumbs for half-an-hour while the nut case was shooting up the school, when they could have easily penetrated the school and stopped the nut case. Of course, these same cops have no problem breaking into an ordinary citizen’s house on a non-violent warrant, (quite often the wrong house) utilizing SWAT tactics, busting up everything in sight, terrorizing the occupants, “just because they can”, with all of their “firepower” to possibly murder the occupants, which gets them a “no-bill” from a corrupt prosecutor-steered grand jury and an extended “paid vacation”.
    Police work is NOT particularly dangerous. Many occupations are far more dangerous…

    Reply
  6. On the one hand, freedom of expression is a thing.

    On the other hand, this was pretty clearly a case of doing a stupid thing in a stupid place.

    Reply
  7. I like my original ~300 lumen Polytac. It’s a great flashlight and I’m glad I have it. But! In defense of ALL THE LUMENS – while it was blindingly bright at night, I found that, when working on my car outside during the day, the obscenely bright Nevada sun cast such a strong shadow that my Polytac couldn’t overcome it.

    I now have a couple of plug-in 2K lumen Snap-On work lamps that I use so that I can see things when I’m outside in broad daylight. It sounds stupid, but it’s true. So, if some tactical high speed low drag door kicker wants a brighter handheld flashlight when he enters some Taliban mud hut or if it’s simply the local shadetree mechanic dealing with a too-bright sun that’s just not positioned optimally, whatever. Sometimes you just need a flashlight that, for a small space, overpowers the sun.

    Reply
  8. I absolutely love my Savage 11/111 in 338 Lapua. Let me qualify that. Initially it was an atomic hammer. The muzzle report and over pressure reminded you that it was the real deal. Not a 50 cal but, man oh man. The Savage required tuning to say the least. The scope rail was loose and had oil under it. It is now epoxied down. The barrel was far from free floating. A little stock work and it is was good. To shoot one mile easily required a NIghtforce 12 x 42 scope. A true one mile gun now. Hitting a 24 inch gong at a mile is no problem, if you do your part. Reloading takes the cost down to $1.50 per shot. Finally the best part. A Yankee hill suppressor, and it is easier on the mind and body than my AR platform long range 308 with a muzzle brake. Very pleasant shooting long range rifle.

    Reply
  9. Yes, deadly force situations are difficult. Therefore, we should ensure that if one occurs that no one encountering it can respond quickly to stop the threat.

    That’s some typical liberal “logic” right there.

    Reply
  10. all the studies show even trained police officers in crisis situations have difficulty hitting their targets.” –

    “Studies” also show that a psycho killer unopposed, has no problem killing as many people as he can until he runs out of bullets, kills himself, or is confronted by armed “good guys”

    Reply
  11. Wait. The cops immediately decide to issue a proclamation restricting where the guy can walk and when? You know they will harass him they couldn’t just go tell the superintendent knock it off.

    Reply
  12. maybe the only way it fires is one of 2 ways:
    1) The trigger system that Franklin Armory made that only fires on the release of the trigger (RFS)
    2) binary firing mode

    that would be my guess.

    Reply
  13. All the really fun aunts & uncles living outside of Texas, have passed away.. Any place inside Texas is within driving distance.
    Haven’t flown since long before 911. Have zero interest in flying ever again.
    Love road trips in my 2009 Honda Element, with one of my Golden Retrievers.

    Reply
  14. I don’t carry a knife for personal defense. I carry a knife for opening packages and letters and things. Carrying a knife for defense is dumb. Rule #1 of knife-fighting is that you are going to get cut. Carry a gun for defense instead and make the other guy bring a knife to a gunfight.

    Reply
  15. The unbelievably MOST AMAZING thing to me about this entire side show, is that ANY GUN OWNER would SERIOUSLY even CONSIDER giving up his or her gun(s) to the government, who wants to totally disarm them, so that there will be no way they can defend themselves against the very ones whose brilliant idea it is to get YOU to “VOLUNTEER” to give up your guns. Of course, if you choose NOT to “volunteer” to give up your guns, I’m sure they have a different remedy for those who still believe they have the right, AS THEY DO, to self defense. This Right to defend yourself has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE 2ND AMENDMENT. THIS IS A NATURAL RIGHT GIVEN TO US BY THE SUPREME LAW MAKER, GOD ALMIGHTY. Now who, IN THEIR RIGHT MIND, would surrender their right to their OWN SELF DEFENSE, especially when cops are killing guys on the corner who are “illegally” selling cigarettes? That is SUCH a “serious” crime, you know, and deserves a death sentence right then and there on the street, even when the guy was CLEARLY NOT RESISTING – NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE COPS SHOUTED AT HIM, “QUIT RESISTING, QUIT RESISTING.” That was only the feeble attempt of the cops to cover their own butts. ONLY A COMPLETE IDIOT WOULD “VOLUNTARILY” EVER TURN IN THEIR GUNS. THAT IS THE EPITOME OF STUPIDITY IF I EVER SAW IT. Or maybe not the EPITOME of stupidity. I think the REAL epitome of COMPLETE & UTTER STUPIDITY is people who actually believe we will all be “safer” if we just turn in our guns, and believe it or not, there are ACTUALLY PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO BELIEVE THIS!!!!! JUST INCREDIBLE – THEIR BRAINS AND COMMON SENSE HAVE COMPLETELY LEFT THEM. THEY HAVE BEEN MIND CONTROLLED INTO ACTUALLY BELIEVING THAT THEY SHOULD TRUST THEIR “SAFETY” TO THE VERY ONES WHO WANT TO KILL THEM – BRILLIANT. JUST BRILLIANT. Do you KNOW that if you are a US Citizen, (which isn’t even a real living natural person, but a Congress invented FAKE PERSON), you have already been declared an “Enemy of the State”. See Title 50 of the US Code. And if you are an “Enemy of the State,” what do you think they want to do to you? What do governments normally do to their “ENEMIES?” I’m just sayin” – Educate yourselves, people. You have NO IDEA how things REALLY ARE.

    Reply
  16. Before you procreate, do the following:
    1) Get a high school diploma
    2) Get a job
    3) Get married to someone who has also completed steps 1) and 2).
    Now, with that foundation of family stability, you might actually be able to RAISE your children rather than just letting them grow up in a moral vacuum.

    Reply

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