Owners of a specific type of illegal firearm are being urged to hand them in to Kent Police during a month-long amnesty.
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Side and top-venting blank-firing (TVBF) weapons are legal to purchase in the UK unless they are readily convertible into viable firearms. The amnesty, which is taking place across England and Wales, will exclusively focus on five models from the Italian-manufacturers Bruni. Following tests by the National Crime Agency, the models have been found to be readily convertible and are now illegal to own without a licence.
The amnesty will run between Monday 2 and Friday 27 February 2026 and during this time, anyone who surrenders such a firearm will not be prosecuted for possessing it. Anyone caught with one of the banned TVBFs following the conclusion of the amnesty could be arrested and face a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The models are:
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model 92 blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM New Police blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model 96 blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model ‘GAP’ blank firing self-loading pistol
• .380R (9mmK) PAK Bruni BBM ME Ranger single-action blank firing revolver
The firearms can be handed in at the following police stations in Kent:
- Canterbury – Old Dover Road.
- Folkestone – Bouverie Road West.
- Maidstone – Palace Avenue.
- Margate – Fort Hill.
- Medway – Purser Way, Gillingham.
- North Kent – Thames Way, Northfleet.
- Tonbridge – Pembury Road.
Anyone planning to surrender a TVBF should travel straight to the police station taking care to conceal the firearm at all times in public, including at the station until you are asked to remove it.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Davies of Kent Police said:
‘We anticipate that most people who own these brands of TVBFs are not aware they are illegal or planning to use them to commit criminal acts. The purpose of this amnesty is to remove as many of the weapons as possible from the streets to help protect our communities, so they are no longer available for those who might wish to cause harm. It also gives the owners of these firearms the opportunity to hand them in without facing criminal proceedings.
‘Kent is a very safe place to live, work and visit where gun crime is fortunately rare. Nevertheless we are not complacent about that fact and the force works hard to keep it that way, which is why we are very keen for any of these specific models of Bruni to be surrendered to one of the designated Kent Police stations before 27 February.
‘Evidence has shown that more than 70 Bruni manufactured devices have been recovered by police forces across the UK following use in a variety of criminal offences. Converted Side/TVBFs have been used in at least five homicides nationally since 2023. Once converted they are clearly very dangerous weapons and we must all do everything we can to ensure they stay out of the reach of those who would use them to cause harm.’