Schoolgirls & sub-machine guns
A schoolgirl of 13 has been arrested by armed police after an assault rifle was found hidden in her bedroom. The M16 automatic machine gun, which is believed to have been placed under a wardrobe by her gangster brother, was discovered wrapped in several pieces of clothing.
Fifteen officers armed with sub-machine guns yesterday stormed a block of flats in Croydon, South London, after a tip-off about the weapon.
Roads were cordoned off and residents ordered to stay in their homes as police searched the fourth floor flat on Monks Hill Estate in Selsdon. Although the weapon is thought to be a replica, police were awaiting results of a forensic examination last night.
Detectives believe that the girl's older brother, who is a known gang member, smuggled the gun into her bedroom to avoid detection shortly after the family moved into the flat a few weeks ago.
Police subsequently arrested a 19-year-old man last night on suspicion of possession of a firearm.
The reporting is up to its usual high standard, but think of it as a "starter for 10". More on this & related topics over the next few days
Comments
Whatever happened to the ability to edit in the great British press? The weapon in question was variously called a "submachinegun", "machine gun" and "assault rifle" in the space of a few paragraphs. If I was teaching anything higher than elementary school and got such a paper, I'd give it a low grade and then give the student some extra instruction. That it appears in a major newspaper is unbelievale.
Posted by: Beausaber | July 23, 2009 8:03 AM
Ah liberal press and liberal education!
Posted by: TimC | July 23, 2009 10:50 AM
Shock horror. Armed police find toy. What a load of old crap. This country is now officially beyond parody.
Posted by: John K | July 23, 2009 11:40 AM
In Australia we are citizens, have been since 1948. Still that didn't stop the great neo liberal, John Howard, turning all law abiding gun owners into criminals because of one nutter at Port Arthur. It seems no matter where we live in the English speaking world, the public service is full of pinkos with agendas just waiting to be implemented.
Posted by: Redocean | July 23, 2009 12:25 PM
I think it is a toy gun in the picture. First, I don't think the cops would have left a live magazine in it, and I don't see the wider mouth of the bottom of the mag well sticking out from the magazine silhouette. Also, it looks like the plastic stock of the toy is broken. A toy would be hollow and this shows a break just where the stock starts to get deeper. A real one has the buffer tube which is metal and not likely to break. Without a buffer tube, buffer, and recoil spring if it were a real gun, it would not be shootable anyway.
Posted by: walt | July 23, 2009 4:13 PM
"Thought to be a replica"? You mean, weapons trained professional police officers can't be sure??
Posted by: Joseph | July 24, 2009 6:08 AM
The green sticker on the bag indicates that it has been checked and made safe by a firearms trained officer. AS the magazine is still in place it is clear from the picture that they knew already that it was a toy.
They just wanted to make themselves look useful and clever. Thing is we know they are the Met' and in this case almost certainly the utterly incompetent "Operation Trident".
Why the press don't take them to task for this bollocks is a mystery. Half educated lazy journalists I suppose.
Posted by: EX_STAB | July 24, 2009 9:43 AM
"A schoolgirl of 13 has been arrested by armed police after an assault rifle was found hidden in her bedroom. The M16 automatic machine gun, which is believed to have been placed under a wardrobe by her gangster brother..."
There's no positive assertion in the article linked that the 13 year old girl even knew about the 'firearm.' Conceivably police think she knew and just don't consider it worth mentioning, but it seems like just being in the same room as a banned arm is enough to get arrested.
And if it is an airsoft - excuse me, "replica" - as it appears to be and the police are setting up to admit after "forensic examination," they must have been able to tell at the scene. In which case dragging the girl down to the station was just a way of saving face after they came in loaded for bear.
Posted by: Dave R. | July 24, 2009 9:00 PM
Pathetic! "Fifteen officers armed with sub-machine guns yesterday stormed a block of flats"
They must have looked a right bunch of prats queueing up to get in the door of the one apartment they did "storm"; typical plod overkill, 15 hyped-up paramilitaries who don't know one end of a real firearm from another, all of them shouting at once as per their SOP's. At least they didn't shoot the poor kid. No doubt they had a good old fishing trip whilst on the premises.
And the farce drags on; in order to save face they arrest a little girl and go through a pointless (but expensive) ritual of forensic tests and legal hearings; but hey, it's a lot safer than going after real criminals!
Posted by: stuart | July 26, 2009 1:11 AM
The citizens of (once) Great Britain again piss their colletive pants over what a cursory glance tells me is nothing but an airsoft gun (read: toy). To think the POLICE(!) need a forensic investigation to determine this is very troubling.
I know there has to be a few of you who dont fit in the "pants-wetting" category, but would you guys please take your country back?
Posted by: Interceptor | July 27, 2009 4:54 PM