Bermuda from North America.

Bermudian Douglas Fowler told Magistrates' Court that he purchased a gun with a five-inch blade knife on the end "over the counter'' at a Court Street store.

The 20-year-old had pleaded guilty to carrying a prohibited weapon. Prosecutor Sgt. Peter Giles handed Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis a picture of the weapon, saying it had recently come to light in Canadian jurisdictions.

He pointed out that instead of firing bullets when the trigger was pulled, it "fired'' a knife, which remains attached to the gun handle.

The weapon was found on Fowler on October 3 by Canadian base authorities. Base security had searched Fowler before escorting him off the base on another matter, Sgt. Giles said. They called in the local Police when they found the gun-knife on him.

Sgt. Giles said while the weapon was "commonplace'' in other jurisdictions, it was something Police obviously did not want to see in Bermuda.

Agreeing, Mr. Francis warned: "I take a very dim view of people found in possession of offensive weapons. There are far too much of them (weapons) in too many places now.

However, Fowler was given a conditional discharge after the duty counsel told the court he had not known the weapon was illegal here, and he was prepared to cooperate with Police by giving them the name of the store he bought it from.

Defence lawyer Mr. Rod Attride-Stirling said Fowler had no idea the weapon was illegal in Bermuda since he had bought it locally and over the counter. Fowler had been living abroad until recently, he said.

"It seems the real culprit here is the business, that for profit, committed an illegal act,'' Mr. Attride-Stirling said, adding Fowler had not used the weapon for any criminal purpose.