Prison Guards on Strike Over Antique Guns

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek prison guards will go on strike next week demanding a change of their American-made weapons that date back to the U.S. wars in central America almost a century ago. While antique shops would be eager to get their hands on them, prison guards just want to get rid of their obsolete 1911 U.S. Cavalry revolvers. The guns do not scare inmates any more as safety experts have advised guards not to fire them.





“We have more and more escape attempts and prisoners just say ‘I’ll try it because they won’t shoot me with these guns anyway’,” Exterior Prison Guards union president Giorgos Kostikas told Reuters Thursday.





The guards will go on strike and demand new weapons and more staff to secure the country’s growing prison population.





“We need 2,800 guards but we currently have only 1,200 armed with completely inappropriate weapons to secure the perimeter of the prisons,” Kostikas said.





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