This hardly ever happens to me... get mailed a gun by mistake

[paramedic70002]

Grandmother 'petrified' after being sent a police machine gun through the post - Telegraph


Grandmother 'petrified' after being sent a police machine gun through the post
A grandmother was sent a machine gun intended for a police station through the post after an address mix-up.


By Lucy Cockcroft
Last Updated: 6:29PM GMT 10 Dec 2008

Catherine Roots had been expecting a horse harness in the post, instead she opened her package to find a Heckler & Koch black submachine gun.

The package was delivered by a courier to Mrs Roots when it should have been sent to firearms officers at the nearby police headquarters.

She called the station and two armed officers turned up and took it away.

Police later explained a gun supply company made a mistake with the postcode when they sent it to Dorset Police in Winfrith near Dorchester.

Instead of writing down DT2 8DZ a clerk put Mrs Roots' postcode of DT2 8DT on the package.

Mrs Roots, who is aged in her 50s and runs a smallholding at Winfrith, said: "I was petrified and I didn't touch it – I didn't know if it would go off.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. Later I found underneath it a letter addressed to the Dorset Police firearms unit with the correct address.

"If it had got into the wrong hands the consequences wouldn't bear thinking about.

"After I contacted the police two armed officers turned up and they were as shocked as I was."

Mrs Roots was later told the weapon was a realistic training gun that fires infra-red beams, not bullets.

She said: "I'm told it had been converted to be used with a laser, but someone could probably convert it back."

Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Whiting, of Dorset Police, said: "Because this item isn't actually a firearm it is lawful for the company, the suppliers, to use a courier as they did.

"I hasten to add if it was a real firearm we would transport it by hand, making sure that no such error like this could occur."

Dorset Police is now seeking assurances from its unnamed supplier that such a mistake could never happen again.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[dukalmighty]

Yep wouldn't want toy guns to fall into the wrong hands

[archer51]

Catherine Roots had been expecting a horse harness in the post, instead she opened her package to find a Heckler & Koch black submachine gun.

I wonder if she would have been petrified if it had been pink instead of that evil black sub machine gun?

[matiki]

I wonder if she would have been petrified if it had been pink instead of that evil black sub machine gun?

Everybody knows that tacticool black makes guns extra deadly.

[GWRedDragon]

Mrs Roots, who is aged in her 50s and runs a smallholding at Winfrith, said: "I was petrified and I didn't touch it – I didn't know if it would go off.

Sounds like that pretty much sums up the belief system of the entire country.

[ChiWeiSz]

Wow - maybe I should change my address to be very, very close to the local precinct!?!

[Duisburg]

Wow - maybe I should change my address to be very, very close to the local precinct!?!

I know! Live real close by so that they mail machine guns to us and leave more machine guns all over our yards!

[mi2az]

Thats pretty cool, I might of take it out for a test fire it to see if it works before I gave it back. I never fired a fully automatic yet.

[heylin]

Funny how people are iffy about firearms, I always make a point of showing friends and family my firearms so they at least develop a respect and understanding for them and mabey one day show some interest in the sport side of pistol shooting.

Even strange is the fact my partner (who is a licensed pistol holder) and even has her own PT99, is the first person to tell me off for dragging the guns out.

Example the other day, my cousin and her boys (8 & 9) came over and the topic of (what sports are you into) comes up, I promptly said pistol shooting and asked if they would like to come out to the range sometime ?

I offered to show the boys what a real gun looked like as they had never seen one, their mum was happy for them to see it but suddenly my partner interjected and say a big "NO" and it then became a taboo topic all of a sudden.

Wonder if its time to find a new partner perhaps :) and then I can introduce people to our sport without getting the 3rd degree.

Its not like they were total strangers, friends and family should be able to see your guns and share in your interests.

[dr_cmg]

Catherine Roots had been expecting a horse harness in the post, instead she opened her package to find a Heckler & Koch black submachine gun.

Don't you love it when "journalists" use blatant lies to get you to read a story? Usually the "journalist" doesn't write the title so I can blame her for that, but the first line of the article states something as fact when in reality it is not. Last time I checked when one knowingly states something as fact that is later proved to be false it is said that one has lied. Now when it is the person making the original statement who later in the same article proves the original statement to be false there is no way one can claim to have been mistaken, mislead, or to have only found out the truth later.

To state in the first sentence that Catherine Root received a H&K submachine gun and then later in the 10th sentence say well it really wasn't a submachine gun after all it was just a very realistic training gun sort of indicates the lengths to which the media will go to make a story out of nothing.

[TN_Mike]

The UK is a country full of bleating sheep. They will soon be a third world country. Possibly an Islamic republic.

[ChiWeiSz]

Heylin, dude your significant other obviously has some issues you two haven't worked through yet. Maybe, (if you haven't yet) you might want to sit down with her and discuss the subject when the "heat of the moment" isn't there, so you can talk about it rationally, and not under emotional duress. If you can't come eye to eye over something as important as weapons in your home - that's a pretty significant issue.

Sorry, just butting in - I want to see your relationship be a total success, not just partial.

[Cupcake]

I was hoping the OP had a Christmas Miracle.

[Bark'n]

"I was petrified and I didn't touch it – I didn't know if it would go off."

Yep, guns are "routinely" shipped fully loaded, safeties off, ready to "Just Go Off" at first touch.


I'd be going... "Machine gun? What machine gun? I don't know nuttin about no machine gun!"

[Guns and more]

Keep in mind this is the UK. The people have a mindset that the government is always right. Any black semi-auto will be described as a "machine gun". Also I noticed the police said it was an infra-red gun, "we'd never ship a real gun". Who knows, I'll bet it was a real gun and they don't want to admit mistakes happen.