§ 1. Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further consideration he has given for granting an amnesty for illegally-held firearms.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Robert Carr)My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I are giving further thought to the timing of an amnesty.
§ Mr. CoxIs the Home Secretary aware of the increasing public concern at the number of criminal offences in which guns are carried and often used? Does he appreciate the ease with which firearms can be bought in London and other large cities? Is it not time that we had an amnesty, after which anyone caught in possession of unlawfully held arms should be most severely dealt with?
§ Mr. CarrCertainly, Ministers accept in principle that there now ought to be an amnesty. Its timing has to be considered in conjunction with legislation. My right hon. Friend and I are still considering the many representations which we had on our Green Paper.
§ Mr. FordDoes not the Home Secretary agree that the essential of the exercise is to reduce the pool of illegally held weapons in Britain? Would this not be better accomplished by authorising 1868 what, in effect, would be a perpetual amnesty by authorising certain arms dealers to buy weapons which might be offered to them with no questions asked, including fully automatic weapons, which would, many of us are convinced, have the effect of so reducing the pool of illegally-held weapons?
§ Mr. CarrThat is one of the matters which has been submitted to us for consideration. There are genuine difficulties about it. I am considering the possibility raised by the hon. Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Ben Ford), but my right hon. Friend and I have as yet reached no conclusion.