[LETHAL: The .22 calibre bullet found in Walthamstow High Street on a market day morning (D6W1001)] Posted on 11/14/2006 1:14:26 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
LIVE ammunition has been found lying in the doorway of a busy high street shop.
The .22 calibre short round bullet was found at the entrance of the 99p Stores in Walthamstow High Street on Wednesday morning, November 1.
[LETHAL: The .22 calibre bullet found in Walthamstow High Street on a market day morning (D6W1001)]
Haroon Khan, who has a firearms licence and is a member of a local gun club, was alarmed to discover live ammunition in a Walthamstow doorway.
The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.
continued... Mr Khan said that if it had been struck hard enough or exposed to heat it could have gone off.
"This sort of thing should not be lying around. It was live, primed and active," he said. "But rather me pick it up than a little kid.
"How can you feel safe when you are finding things like this on the street?
"To get hold of one of these is not easy. You have to go through a scrutinised search, you need a licence and you have to belong to a club."
Ammunition of this kind would ordinarily be used in a small handgun or pistol, and both can be owned legally under licence.
But to leave strictly controlled goods out in the street would be enough for a firearms licence to be revoked.
The bullet has been examined at a Metropolitan Police laboratory and details about it kept for future reference.
A police spokesman said: "Recovering firearms and ammunition is a priority for the police. We take the same view of ammunition as we do of a gun.
"If it goes bang, it is still lethal."
Police are treating the unattended ammunition as a crime. Mr Khan alerted them at 10.16am, and they arrived at his shop to pick up the bullet at 11.32am.
This says volumes all on its own.
evacuate the city!!
Oh geez, what a bunch of pantywaists.
Hilarious!!!
Reminds me of the lady at work that sent out an e-mail informing the other 900 employees that a quarter had been found in the lady's room and that the person that lost it could pick it up if they could identify it!! She was NOT kidding!
Rogue Bullet!
Rogue Bullet!
When bullets go bad!
Danger Will Robinson!
Impossible...didn't they ban guns?
A few miles from Compton we do NOT find this to be news. Don't you have illegals you can hire to sweep these things up like we do?
Elsewhere in the store there was a set of stairs that "moved themselves".
ROTFLMAO!
My thoughts exactly!!!
They're a lost cause.
Who knows? If you hit that thing with a hammer or threw it in a fire, it might go "pop" and split the soft brass case!
You would think they found a live grenade or a 500 lb. bomb. One .22 caliber bullet, with powder enough to propel it through a cardboard box. Sheeesshhh.
Tomorrows headlines in the Guardian Series UK (East London-Essex)
"Testicles found on a man in London resturant!!!"
Is this satire?
That might sting a bit. Might even embed itself mostly under the flesh...if in a fire, or struck very hard in precisely the right way.
I wonder...if someone dumped a couple thousand of these from a 50 story buildings roof, into traffic - would any go off?
In much of America it is hard to find a drawer or a coin jar that doesn't have a stray 22 round rolling around in it.
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