If This Is The Favoured Gun Of Organised Crime, We Don’t Need To Worry, Sky News!

The Sky News props department is suffering from cutbacks. Or those in charge of it are simply very stupid.

If that’s the sort of gun gang members can get a hold of, there’s little to worry about.

That is a Gat air pistol.

A dangerous toy for older children and teenagers, no longer on the market, and usually found in people’s attics.

There was also a rifle version much loved by crooked fairground owners for their lack of accuracy and power.

As the box says, it fires lead pellets, darts and corks, which lets you know the sort of market it was aimed at (you could also shoot small ballbearings, these were taken off the market to air weapon owners thankfully as they could be lethal to more than wildlife).

There was even a plastic ‘fly swat’ attachment for the very stupid to attempt to kill houseflies with. It led to the destruction of more household ornaments than it did insects.

You pressed the barrel into a hard surface so the silver cork plug attachment reached the sight, unscrewed the back pin, put a pellet or dart into the chamber, pushed and screwed the pin back in, then fired. It was a lot of effort for something with pitiful accuracy.

Petty criminals would sometimes used them for robberies, unscrewing the cork plug at the front and cocking the barrel to make it look like they were holding a real gun. If caught and convicted, they were usually the laughing stock of whatever prison they were serving their time in.