'About half an hour before their shift was due to end, on 18 November 2005, Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky and her colleague Police Constable Teresa Millburn responded to reports of an activated panic alarm at a travel agency in Bradford, West Yorkshire. As the two walked into the store, PC Beshenivsky was shot and killed at point-blank range.

Criminals purchase weapons unable to fire live ammunition legally and at low costs across Europe, converting them into lethal firearms with little to no training or expertise. The Small Arms Survey report From Legal to Lethal: Converted Firearms in Europe provides a detailed examination on the topic.
 

Firearms conversion—mechanically altering an accessible replica firearm to function as a ‘real’ weapon—has been widely used by those wishing to circumvent legislation that restricts access to firearms.