Posted on 10/09/2012 9:28:15 PM PDT by smokingfrog
FIVE men have been jailed after a sniper rifle was found in the boot of a minicab in South Croydon.
Tyron Harding, 45, sold the .22 bolt-action rifle and hollow-point ammunition - designed to cause maximum injury - to his fellow defendants on November 1 last year.
Armed police officers stopped Loyan Osman, 25, soon afterwards as he travelled along Brighton Road, South Croydon, in a minicab. In his possession he had 57 rounds of ammunition.
When officers searched the boot of the vehicle they found the rifle with a sniper scope and silencer attached. It was loaded with a bullet in the breach and more in a magazine.
Osman, Anthony Hosey, 28, Khadar Mire, 25, and Nathaniel Tracey, 27, had been watched by officers as they travelled from Lambeth in Mire's BMW to buy the weapon and ammunition from Harding.
As Osman travelled back to Lambeth in the minicab his colleagues followed in the BMW.
Officers arrested Osman after stopping the cab and subsequently detained Hosey, More and Tracey following further investigation.
On December 12, officers searched Harding's girlfriend's house in Huddlestone Crescent, Merstham, which was close to the location where the weapon was purchased.
In the loft they found another .22 bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight and silencer. Three boxes of hollow-point ammunition, containing 62 rounds, were also recovered. Harding was arrested as he returned home.
Detective Sergeant Phil Holt, of the Met's Trident Gang Crime Command, said: "These men were found in possession of the kind of lethal weaponry that is typically associated with the most dangerous of criminals.
(Excerpt) Read more at thisiscroydontoday.co.uk ...
It's not like Europeans have a history of denying problems until they're swallowed by them or anything like that......
Throwing people in jail for what we consider little more than a children's toy is perfectly reasonable. /s
Bolt action rifle + scope + .22 LR hollow points = sniper rifle? WTF? OK, it is the UK after all. UK reporters know about guns as much as they do about fornicating.
Read your own post from the other day and practice weapons safety. People are shot and killed every year by people treating the lowly 22 with contempt.
Truly, I wish I could. But what I find more repugnant than this travesty is the fact some are actually trying to *defend* this horrendous injustice.
People are killed every year by car accidents, but you don't see anyone claiming the victims were run over by a tank.
Really? You must not own a .22 then. Hollow point .22 long rifles are quite common and probably more of them are sold than solids. I am talking about the USA of course and if this is in Britain, where I believe it is, then I think silencers are legal, at least they are in Europe.
Of course they are.
As first time British offenders, they’d never have come close to 16 years. Probably a third of that at most.
The 15/16 yr sentences are because this is the nth time these men have had criminal (and serious violent ones at that) records. Because they are noted violent and serious criminals, and also gang members.
Like any criminal and criminal system, the more you do it, the heavier the punishment.
As first time British offenders, they’d never have come close to 16 years. Probably a third of that at most.
The 15/16 yr sentences are because this is the nth time these men have had criminal (and serious violent ones at that) records. Because they are noted violent and serious criminals, and also gang members.
Then why is none of that included in the article? I see nothing but "guns" in the way of relevant details.
Thanks for posting that. I knew there had to be more to the story than the original article told.
Turns out the bobbie’s description of the criminals was good, tho’ the description of the rifle was... not so.
“Then why is none of that included in the article?”
Because the article sucks.
See his links in post 80.
What "serious crime"?
You think buying a rifle is a serious crime?
Seriously?
You think 6 years in prison is an appropriate penalty for the "serious crime" of buying a rifle?
Seriously?
Underneath all the blather about whether these guys were or were not dirtbags lies the complete disconnect with reality.
A .22LR rifle is NOT a 'sniper rifle'.
A .22LR rifle is the least powerful rifle commonly available anywhere.
The idea that buying a .22LR rifle (or any other rifle) without the government's permission constitutes some sort of heinous crime is insane. Nuts. Whacko. Bonkers. Mad.
You can come on this forum and make apologies for, and try to explain away, the UK's insane and idiotic firearms laws if you like. It's a Free Republic.
But it's increasingly discrediting both you and your country.
Maybe if those criminals had bought a pink and purple rifle,it would not have seemed so evil.
1—Convicted criminals (one on licence) with gang affliations and violent track records buying a rifle, hollowpoint ammo, silencer and a scope is serious.
As you know, its legal to own a rifle in the UK, as long as the rifle and ‘accessories’ arent banned.
The rifle however was an ‘illegally held’ weapon (ie it hadnt been registered and had been smuggled into the UK), hollowpoint ammo is illegal in the UK. Silencers and scopes are of course legal.
The men were convicted on possession of firearms with intent to endanger life and illegal possession of a firearm. They werent up in court for the crime of buying a rifle, as its perfectly legal to own one as long as you adhere to the gun laws.
2—The British gun laws are what they are. You think they are stupid. Many British would say that the easy availabilty of guns in America with little or no checks is equally insane.
3—Nope, try again. I have agreed with many here that many of the 20thC UK gun laws have been ill-advised and some downright wrong. All I do here is to explain the laws (as a Brit and gunowner) and try and correct myths and errors in posts.
Anjem Choudary ROCKS! He goes where he pleases & strikes where he pleases.
And disarmed-by-choice Britons have precious little to say in response. On the other hand, Muslims in USA are mostly quiet & keep to themselves. All those bloody infidel Yanks with their guns & their Bibles, you know.
Do Anjem & Rowan meet weekly for tea & crumpets?
;^)
That's as it may be ... but you're on record here as supporting a SIX YEAR prison term for honest folk committing the "serious crime" (your words) of buying a rifle without bothering to ask Her Majesty's permission.
That's beyond insane.
(ie it hadnt been registered
There's part of your problem ... to think that 'registering' a rifle does anybody a shred of good.
hollowpoint ammo is illegal
There's more of your problem ... whatever good does anyone (other than an idiot) think will come of banning the most effective form of self-defense or hunting ammunition? Banning hollow point ammunition is madness and stupidity.
Silencers and scopes are of course legal.
As they bloody well should be. Neither, however, turns a .22LR rifle into a "sniper weapon".
its perfectly legal to own one as long as you adhere to the gun laws.
The same was true in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ...
The British gun laws are what they are.
Yes. They are stupid and insane.
Guess what, sparky? Ours are stupid and insane, too. Just not quite as much so.
All I do here is to explain the laws (as a Brit and gunowner) and
And support punishing gun-owners with six year prison terms for buying a rifle in a private sale.
Yes, he does. Only almost no UK Muslim or anyone else listens to his insane ramblings.
Thank you
No problem.
Perhaps so. I’ve seen vids of willowy Englishwomen in clingy sundresses standing up to him & his burka-clad Muslimahs and there was no violence (British police were off camera & close by).
But when Lord Achmed, MP, speaks, people listen. Like when a female MP proposed airing to her fellow MPs a vid showing the ugly truth about Islam, Lord A. threatened to surround Parliament with 10,000 angry Muslim males. The entire assembly folded like an accordion & cancelled the showing.
Too bad Sir Winston or Dame Margaret weren’t in the drivers seat to call Lord Achmed out & dare him to stage his show of Islamic force. Mr. Choudary must have been laughing his bearded face off.
Just returned from holiday in Ottawa ON. Great time, lovely people, but it’s as close to Europe as I care to get to these days.
That does nothing to negate the statement of the cop being quoted.
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