National Amnesty Launches to Remove Turkish Blank-Firing Guns from Streets

A four-week national amnesty begins Monday, 3 February 2025 to recover Turkish-manufactured Top-Venting Blank-Firing (TVBF) firearms, with owners urged to surrender Retay, Ekol, Ceonic ISSC and Blow models at police stations without facing prosecution.

The amnesty, which runs until Friday 28 February, targets these specific brands because they can be readily converted into lethal weapons without specialist equipment and have been used in four murders nationwide. Greater Manchester Police recovered 61 converted firearms from these four brands over the past three years.

Owners can surrender the weapons at any Greater Manchester Police station front desk, with police advising they transport them wrapped in bags or boxes to avoid alarming the public. While the amnesty specifically covers unconverted models of the four Turkish brands, all firearms and blank firers can be surrendered during this period.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, who leads GMP’s firearms recovery efforts, warned: “As soon as the amnesty ends, anyone who still owns one of these firearms could be facing up to ten years in prison. We have been relentless in our work to reduce the number of firearms discharges across GM, and seized a record number of criminally used firearms last year; our approach into 2025 remains exactly the same.”

Anyone with information about firearms being used for criminal purposes can contact police via 101, the GMP website, LiveChat, or 999 for immediate threats. Anonymous tips can be given to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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