The Civil Guard destroys 6,015 firearms in the Canary Islands from individuals and criminal acts

3,390 long guns (shotguns, carbines and rifles), 775 short guns (revolvers and pistols), 189 air guns, 152 blank firing guns, 19 cannons and 1,490 edged weapons have been scrapped.

November 19 2019 (16:20 WET)
The Civil Guard destroys 6,015 firearms in the Canary Islands from individuals and criminal acts
The Civil Guard destroys 6,015 firearms in the Canary Islands from individuals and criminal acts

The Civil Guard of the Commands of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has destroyed a total of 6,015 firearms deposited in the different Weapons Interventions, from individuals and seized in criminal acts and administrative offenses.

From the Benemérita it is explained that once the appropriate procedures have been carried out and the deposit periods have been met, the weapons were transferred to a steel foundry company to convert them into scrap metal through the smelting process.

guardia civil armas 2In total, 6,015 firearms were reduced to scrap, including 3,390 long guns (shotguns, carbines and rifles), 775 short guns (revolvers and pistols), 189 air guns, 152 blank firing guns, 19 cannons, as well as 1,490 edged weapons.

The destroyed weapons were in the deposits of the Weapons and Explosives Interventions of both Commands, which had been voluntarily handed over by their owners, for having been used in the commission of criminal acts, administrative offenses, being prohibited or for not having been purchased at auctions.

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In 2013, 497 firearms and 690 weapons of various kinds were destroyed in the Canary Islands; in 2014, 766 firearms and 1,872 weapons of other types were scrapped; and in 2015 there were a total of 1,305 firearms and 2,003 assorted weapons.

Prior appointment system


In order to improve the quality of care for citizens in the Weapons and Explosives Interventions of the Civil Guard, the Benemérita explains that a computer system has been implemented that allows efficient management of the time spent in carrying out administrative procedures.

This is a system that can be used throughout the national territory through the pages http://run.gob.es/citagc or through the Civil Guard website http://www.guardiacivil.es and then in the previous weapons intervention appointment link.

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You can request an appointment to carry out procedures related to: renewal, weapons review, transfer of weapons, circulation guides for weapons shipments, etc., except for the deposit of weapons for reasons of citizen security, as well as improvement procedures, hearings or administrative appeals in order to meet the established deadlines.

In addition to the electronic appointment, the objective of the Civil Guard in this matter is to improve the computerization and simplification of procedures for which it states that it is working on the implementation of the Electronic Headquarters, which will allow the processing of 28 electronic procedures avoiding travel and reducing deadlines. Likewise, it is intended to simplify the procedures related to weapons licenses, extending the validity period of all licenses, standardizing it to five years, among other measures.

Exhaustive control of legal access to weapons


Currently, the competence in matters of weapons and explosives that the State has is materialized through the Weapons and Explosives Interventions of the Civil Guard. These Units exhaustively control legal access to weapons, for which the current Regulations establish requirements, including the lack of a criminal record, as well as passing theoretical and practical tests on the use and handling of weapons.

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Likewise, to prevent a weapon from being used improperly when the owner no longer has the right to possess and use it, the regulations establish that they be disabled or destroyed. According to the Civil Guard, the disabling of a weapon, as of 2011, is regulated by very strict regulations, in such a way that it is subjected to a process that affects all the fundamental parts of it, making it impossible to use it again with full operational capacity.

Likewise, the Civil Guard periodically carries out the destruction of firearms of various calibers, as well as prohibited edged weapons. Some of them are involved in illicit, criminal or administrative activities and after the corresponding procedure their destruction is determined; and others, which because their owners cease to have the right to possess and use them and have not been awarded in auctions, have the same purpose. This allows the weapons to be reduced to scrap metal through a smelting or similar process.

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