Criminals repair and use deactivated collectors’ weapons
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The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is concerned about the increasing number of cases involving weapons that had been deactivated for sale as collectors’ pieces have been restored to working order for criminal purposes.
Police have recovered a large number of such guns, which have officially been marked as deactivated. Even automatic weapons have been included.
Reactivated weapons are often confiscated in connection with investigation into other crimes.
Kari Haapala of the NBI says that buying deactivated weapons is one way that criminals can get their hands on a gun that is difficult to trace.
"No records are kept of deactivated weapons, and they are not identified as weapons."
Guns that are deactivated can be sold and resold freely, which makes it nearly impossible to trace the movements of the gun.
Deactivated guns can also be legally held by anyone, as no licences are required.
The main sellers of deactivated weapons are collectors and gun shops, which perform the action of deactivation.
The biggest seller of deactivated weapons is the Finnish military.
The deactivation rules of the Finnish Defence Forces are actually more stringent than required by law, says Ari-Jaakko Tuominen of the Defence Forces’ materiel staff.
"A weapon that has undergone deactivation according to the rules of the Defence Forces has been altered so radically that it is much easier to buy a working weapon abroad, or to start from scratch", Tuominen says.
The Defence Forces also keep records of all of the weapons that it has rendered unusable. Most of the weapons that are deactivated and sold by the Defence Forces date back to the war.
In the view of the Defence Forces, Finnish automatic weapons seized by the police were most likely brought back to Finland after being exported, or have fallen into the hands of criminals after deactivation.
Finland is considering taking an active role in pushing through a weapons directive of the EU during the upcoming EU Presidency, says Jouni Laiho of the Ministry of the Interior. The draft directive would harmonise national legislation on the deactivation issue.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 22.6.2006 - TODAY |
 Criminals repair and use deactivated collectors’ weapons
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