I Knew Most Brits were Gun-Fearing Wussies, but THIS is RIDICULOUS

According to the British paper The Daily Mirror:

MOST TERRIFYING GUN IN THE WORLD SEIZED

Let the Fisking begin! MOST terrifying weapon? It's a damned 9mm!

THE first fully automatic handgun to surface in the UK - capable of firing 1,100 rounds a minute - has been seized in a police raid.

It is a Glock 18, banned from sale in the US and described as a "monster of a weapon" that fires bullets with the intensity of a high- pressure water hose.

Ooookay. It's a 9mm handgun (last seen in the 2nd installment of The Matrix trilogy, I believe). And it's somehow more dangerous than Eastern-bloc AK-47's that have hit the streets in England?

The ultra-light, Austrian-made gun was discovered in a swoop on the home of a suspected Yardie gangster. Scotland Yard has issued a nationwide alert as they try to find the owner and establish how the weapon got into Britain.

Um, it was smuggled? It's a handgun. You know; small, concealable. It probably came across on a ferry or through the Chunnel in a box.

It's not like it's hard to do.

A Met firearms expert said: "It's extremely worrying that such a weapon is here. I can't stress enough just how dangerous this gun is.

Why? You've got thousands of other guns, up to and including real assault rifles running around. I'd be far more worried about them.

"If it was fired on the streets of London by someone unused to its immense firing capability, there could be a massacre.

With a 33-round magazine you're looking at throwing three more rounds downrange than an AK could, and they'd be 9mm rounds, far less dangerous than 7.62x39. You know, the gun that was used to kill Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, on New Year's day 2003 in London. I think you overestimate its capability.

"Why even a criminal would want to own such a gun is beyond me. It would probably bethe ultimate in gun status-symbols." The Yard has warned front-line officers about the discovery, which followed a a raid on a residential address in Norwood, South East London.

WE HAVE A WINNER! Ever since they outlawed handguns, they've become criminal status-symbols - worn as "fashion accessories" by all the best-dressed thugs.

A force internal report said: "This is the first weapon of its kind to be seized in the UK. It is not issued to any agencies in the UK and is believed to have been imported from the US."

Right. Got to be our fault, we're gun-worshipping monsters.

The report said the Glock can fire "armour-piercing ammunition". It has a compensation device to keep it straight during firing.

*SIGH* Sweet jebus. Armor-piercing ammo? What can't fire "armor-piercing" ammo? But I suppose whoever smuggled the Glock 18 in also snuck a containerload of Black Rhino ammo, too? How much hysteria can one column generate?

SAS officers use the gun in combat with a 19-round magazine. Israeli security forces and Germany's GSG-9 anti-terror unit also carry it.

What?!?!? You mean there's a legitimate use for this engine of destruction?!?!?

British armed police use the semi-automatic Glock 17, also a favourite with criminals.

Pretty damned popular with police, citizens, and criminals here too. Very reliable, if you're into tactical tupperware.

America banned its import in 1986. US arms expert Walt Rauch said: "Shooting the G18 full-auto is just like turning on a high-pressure hose,"

A high pressure hose that puts out for 1.0 second with a 19-round magazine. Now, reading this, do you assume that the U.S. banned this specific weapon? Or are you aware that in 1986 a law was passed making it illegal to import or manufacture domestically any full-auto weapon for civilian sales? (Employees of the .gov are exempted from this prohibition. They get all the neat toys.)

Det Insp Martin Ward said: "This is something of a monster of a weapon. We are appealing for anyone to come forward in the strictest confidence with information."

The gun should have a serial number. If it does, you will know when it was manufactured, and where it was sold. If it was originally manufactured as a full-auto Glock 18, and it was sold in the U.S., there will be a paper-trail. If it was sold into Europe, there ought to be one.

What's the problem? And why are your panties in such a bunch?

Edited to add: You want to see what I think is scary?