One of my all-time favorite characters is James Bond. While refined and debonair, he was also more than capable of getting his hands dirty of the job called for it. I’ve watched all the movies several times at least and the character will always have a special place in my heart.

It’s so much so that the sole reason I want a Walther PPK is simply because Bond had one.

A lucky collector didn’t need to buy similar models, though. He had a number of the actual guns used by the actors who played Bond through the years.

Unfortunately, that use of the past tense is warranted. It seems they were recently stolen.

Police are appealing for information after five deactivated guns used in James Bond movies were stolen from a property in north London.

Officers were called to a property in Aldersbrook Avenue in Enfield at around 8pm on Monday to a report of a burglary.

…

Beretta “Cheetah” and Beretta “Tomcat” pistols from Die Another Day and the Walther PPK handgun used in A View to a Kill were reported to have been taken.

The other stolen weapons are understood to be a Revolver Smith and Wesson 44 Magnum featured in Live and Let Die and a Llama 22 calibre handgun from Die Another Day.

The suspects are described as three white males with Eastern European accents. The three fled the scene after neighbors reportedly being “disturbed” by neighbors.

As these are deactivated guns, there’s not much danger to the public represented by these thefts. Considering the value of these guns– £100,000 or over $122,000–it seems likely they weren’t targeted because they were guns, but because they were James Bond guns.

Movie props are popular items for collection with some of them going for millions of dollars. Others are far more affordable. Deactivated firearms used in such high-profile movies, particularly such iconic guns for an iconic character, are likely to find themselves on the upper end of the spectrum. Enough so that there will be black market buyers for such items.

Of course, that’s if they get away with it.

Because of the value of these items and the fact that they’re such relatively high-profile items, it’s unlikely that the hunt for this is going to just come to an end. The items will likely be recovered and all parties arrested.

However, these are also professional criminals, most likely. They don’t commit crimes unless they’re worth the risk of spending time in prison, but they also don’t take stupid chances either. That’s going to make it harder for authorities to track them down.

To be quite honest, I really want to follow this investigation all the way through. It’s bound to be grounds for a movie all its own.

Meanwhile, though, England has plenty of actual, functional guns floating around in criminal hands that had nothing to do with movies all while the law-abiding only get to have guns in their homes if they’re deactivated movie props or something similar. It’s absolutely ridiculous.