On Thursday morning, in a planned, combined operation of police forces together with border police at the Kiosk checkpoint of the Etzion Police Station, a “Scorpion” guns and boxes of ammunition were seized from a car belonging to an eastern Jerusalem resident in his 20s. The driver was detained for questioning.
“Weapons that are illegally held are frequently used to carry out terror attacks and commit crimes and violent acts,” stated a Judea and Samaria Police and Border Police Spokesperson, adding that “therefore, the Israel Police and security forces will continue their determined and uncompromising struggle and will work tirelessly with the cooperation of all the relevant authorities to reduce the predominance of illegal weapons, all in order to protect and provide for normalcy and safety for all Israeli citizens.”
The 7.65 mm machine pistol Škorpion vz. 61 was developed in the late 1950s in what was then Czechoslovakia. It is a select-fire, straight blowback-operated weapon that fires from the closed bolt position. The cartridge used produces a very low recoil impulse which enables a simple, unlocked blowback operation. There is no delay mechanism and the cartridge is supported only by the inertia of the bolt and the strength of the return springs.
When fired, gas pressure drives the case back in the chamber against the resistance provided by the weight of the bolt and its two recoil springs. The bolt travels back, extracting the empty case which is then ejected straight upwards through a port in the receiver housing top cover.
The gun and its variants are in use mostly by the security forces of countries which used to be in the Soviet sphere of influence and clandestine and terrorist groups.