Posted on 06/07/2008 6:42:49 PM PDT by doug from upland
We have another thing about which to worry. I saw this photo from the Hillary sort of concession speech today and wondered. Yes, a cell gunphone exists. At these rallies, people get very close to the candidates and, in this case, a former impeached president. What if this had been a weapon? Do they take the time to actually x-ray your cell phone? This is pretty scary technology.
Hitting the 5, 6, 7 and 8 buttons on the gunphone fires four .22 caliber rounds in quick succession.
At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone — same size, same shape, same overall appearance.
But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol, a phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.
The US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are aware of the device and have instructed baggage screeners to be on the lookout for suspicious mobile phones. This is especially after 9/11.
European law enforcement officials — stunned by the discovery of these deadly decoys — say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe.
Airport authorities across Europe are implementing systems to X-ray all cell phones.
“We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”
The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Customs Service say they’ve been briefed on the new weapons.
“This criminal invention represents a potentially serious threat to law enforcement and the public,” said U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. “We received word about these guns last month. We have since alerted our field personnel to be on the lookout for ‘cell phone guns’ at U.S. ports of entry.”
Guns on the Move
These new covert guns were first discovered in October when Dutch police stumbled on a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam.
In another recent incident a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe.
Police say both shipments are believed to have originated in Yugoslavia. Interpol sent out a warning to law enforcement agencies around the world. European border police and customs officers are at a heightened state of alert at all ports, airports and border crossings.
Realistic Appearance
‘If you didn’t know they were guns, you wouldn’t suspect anything,” said Ari Zandbergen, spokesman for the Amsterdam police.
“Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that they are heavier,” says Birgit Heib of the German Federal Criminal Investigation Agency.
The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half. The .22-caliber rounds fit into the top of the phone under the screen. The lower half, under the keyboard, holds the firing pins. The bullets fire through the antenna by pressing the keypad from numbers five to eight.
Amsterdam police says they are very sophisticated machines constructed inside gutted cell phones which do not light up or operate as real phones. “These are very difficult to make. We believe experts are involved,” says Zandbergen.
U.S. authorities, including the FBI, ATF, Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Customs Service Authority have been supplied detailed information and pictures of these new weapons.
“They’ve been given a heads up,” said Jim Crandall, ATF spokesman.
To date no phone guns have been discovered either in the United States or in the process of being smuggled in, authorities say. But they know it’s only a matter of time.
FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said airport security officers had been trained to deal with this new threat.
“We don’t want to tell the bad guys exactly what we’re looking for,” she says, “We are trying to stay one step ahead.”
Will Affect Travelers
Airport authorities across Europe are implementing systems to X-ray all cell phones, those procedures will likely be followed by airports around the world. “This is just one more item that we need to pay special attention to because nowadays, of course just about every passenger carries a mobile phone,” says the spokesman for Frankfurt airport security.
Customs officials in the U.S. say their safety procedure has normally been to require travelers to turn their phones on, however that may no longer be enough. Cell phone users will have to be made aware that reaching for their phones in some circumstances could be misinterpreted as a threat by authorities.
Yep, they’ve been around for years and yes, in my personal opinion; they can be a threat to security.
Leos get bulletins on them ever so often.
Not to be indelicate, but some of the models probably fit in dark, tight places — just like a few very tiny guns.
#
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cellphone+gun&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
SIG!
Yep, and they even have stun-gun type pagers now, too.
#
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=pager+gun&btnG=Search+Images
I remember the “buttocks gun”. Very accurate, but somewhat difficult to shoot discreetly.
Thanks.
stepping back in time...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1634494/posts
“NYPD warns on cell phone guns”
Washington Times ^ | 5-18-06 | UPI
Posted on May 18, 2006 11:23:43 AM PDT by JZelle
You’re welcome.
Can you get it in a larger caliber?
will it work on tech support?
When I went to a Bush rally in Fresno during his first run, our bags were searched and we were wanded or went though one of those airport detectors..so I am pretty sure they are searched one way or another.
This story makes the rounds every few years.. and here is a video of the thing firing.
oops.. heh ya beat me to it and posted the video.
No. You get no tech support with the PhoneGun. Even if it's a hardware problem. Who you gonna call?
An almost non existent device that has questionable lethality, just like the famous exploding shoes that the TSA is always looking for.
The real threat is a zip gun made from camera equipment and employed by the “international press corps”, but we are far too pc to look for something like that.
Something is confusing to me, it looks as though the four cartridges would have to be in individual chambers each with its own firing pin and the article refers to firing pins (plural). If this is the case why do they say it fires through the antenna? If the antenna is the barrel how do you get more than one shot to fire through the barrel? It just doesn’t sound right to me. Of course it is probably just sloppy reporting and most likely the antenna is just a dummy or maybe one of the four bullets actually fires through it.
This is not a new development.
It has been well known for at least the past 5 or 6 years.
At least that is what a little birdie tells me.
No problem, Just pass a gun control law against them. That always works... </SARC>
Ever since 9-11 I've wondered about C4 laptops.
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