- Messages
- 9,364
- Reactions
- 23,650
I might have told this tale before, and if so, I'm sure that the PTB will haul it off. There were any amount of rumours back in the late 90's, of senior police officers here in UK with their own 'collections' of handguns that had been handed in at the '97 handgun ban. Whether or not there was any truth in them is open to conjecture, of course, but the old saw about smoke and fire would seem to hit the mark, as a number of serious court cases proved.
So, back to 1997 here in mainland UK, where the ordinary Joe and Joette had to hand their cartridge-firing handguns in after the appalling tragedy of Dunblane, the previous year. A pal of mine, who worked for an experimental machine shop in our local town, was part of an R&D team developing micro water-jet cutting for various materials, including such stuff as carbon fibre and exotic metals.
He only had one pistol - his pride and joy - a Colt Gold Cup in .45ACP. I wasn't there to see him hand it in to the officer behind the counter, but from him the conversation went something like this -
Him - Here's my pistol and here's my FAC. You can take them both.
Police Officer [hereafter PO] - just let me check the serial number against our records and the FAC.
Him - They should be the same, after all, you issued the FAC...
PO - Doesn't hurt to check, y'know...
Him - Like you've had a couple of hundred Colt Gold Cups handed in, right?
PO - Now, now, Sir, I know this is stressful for you, but I'm only doing my job...
Him - In that case, you'll be wanting to take care if you try and pick it up - use a pencil in the muzzle...
PO, looking at him like he had grown another eye - Why would I do that?
Him - I wouldn't like you to get hurt, OK?
PO - What have you done to it? [looking slightly alarmed].
Him - Try and pick it up, using the pencil in the muzzle, and you'll find out.
The PO did as he suggested, and to his utter amazement, the gun came to pieces where the pencil inside the barrel ended. And so, too, did the rest of the gun when poked by the by-now astonished PO. 'What the **** have you done to it?' he cried out...'Well, since it was my property at the time, I thought I try out our new micro-bore water-jet cutter on it, and I've cut it into 120 slices - just like a sliced loaf. I'd like to see you flat-foot b*ggers put THAT in your collection and shoot it!'
So saying, he gave the finger to the CCTV and walked out, not happy, but strangely satisfied.
So, back to 1997 here in mainland UK, where the ordinary Joe and Joette had to hand their cartridge-firing handguns in after the appalling tragedy of Dunblane, the previous year. A pal of mine, who worked for an experimental machine shop in our local town, was part of an R&D team developing micro water-jet cutting for various materials, including such stuff as carbon fibre and exotic metals.
He only had one pistol - his pride and joy - a Colt Gold Cup in .45ACP. I wasn't there to see him hand it in to the officer behind the counter, but from him the conversation went something like this -
Him - Here's my pistol and here's my FAC. You can take them both.
Police Officer [hereafter PO] - just let me check the serial number against our records and the FAC.
Him - They should be the same, after all, you issued the FAC...
PO - Doesn't hurt to check, y'know...
Him - Like you've had a couple of hundred Colt Gold Cups handed in, right?
PO - Now, now, Sir, I know this is stressful for you, but I'm only doing my job...
Him - In that case, you'll be wanting to take care if you try and pick it up - use a pencil in the muzzle...
PO, looking at him like he had grown another eye - Why would I do that?
Him - I wouldn't like you to get hurt, OK?
PO - What have you done to it? [looking slightly alarmed].
Him - Try and pick it up, using the pencil in the muzzle, and you'll find out.
The PO did as he suggested, and to his utter amazement, the gun came to pieces where the pencil inside the barrel ended. And so, too, did the rest of the gun when poked by the by-now astonished PO. 'What the **** have you done to it?' he cried out...'Well, since it was my property at the time, I thought I try out our new micro-bore water-jet cutter on it, and I've cut it into 120 slices - just like a sliced loaf. I'd like to see you flat-foot b*ggers put THAT in your collection and shoot it!'
So saying, he gave the finger to the CCTV and walked out, not happy, but strangely satisfied.