£35 kit turns air rifles into lethal weapons
They’re cheap gun f or criminals, say experts
AIR rifles can be turned into deadly weapons with kits bought for only £35 on the internet, a Sunday People probe has found.
Firearms experts fear they are a cheap source of high-powered guns for criminals.
And there is concern that children are using the souped-up rifles, which each year cause accidental deaths. A source said: “These kits turn toys into killing machines. An urgent crackdown is needed on the sale of these weapons.”
The law in England and Wales allows anyone over 18 to buy an air rifle. Children of 14 can legally fire them. With lower powered rifles there are no checks on buyers. Law makers in Scotland were so concerned about the dangers they made a firearms licence mandatory.
The danger is that kits bought easily on the internet can be used either to add more powerful springs or adapt guns fired with CO to use more pressurised gas cannisters.
This can easily double their power. We found one website selling conversion kits for £35. The price includes an instructional DVD demonstrating how to beef up a gun.
Another online guide urges caution: “You could lose your face. I am dead serious.”
An industry source said: “This is an easy way for guns to get in the wrong hands. Air rifles are dangerous enough. Once tuned up they can kill.”
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation said the vast majority of the UK’s six million air rifles are used “safely and responsibly”.