§ Lord Burnham asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ How many separate incidents of killing or malicious wounding by legally held larger calibre handguns have taken place in the last five years.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch)My Lords, information is not available precisely in the form requested. In England and Wales in the three years from 1992 to 1994, 22 homicides are known to have been committed with legally held firearms of which four were handguns of a calibre larger than .22. In Scotland no legally held handgun is known to have been used in crimes of homicide, attempted murder or assault between 1991 and 1995. Information for Northern Ireland is not available. Information about the calibre of guns used in woundings is not collected centrally.
§ Lord BurnhamMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. In the light of the action which is being taken in another place and also here, is that not a very important statistic? Is it not the case that however horrible the events of Dunblane, ill thought out action is being taken on the basis of incomplete information?
§ Baroness BlatchMy Lords, a great deal of thought has been given to this matter. I remind the House what the Home Secretary said in another place. He said that for all the analysis and comment that there has been about what happened in Dunblane primary school on 13th March, the fact remains that these awful crimes were committed with a handgun which was legally bought and legally possessed. That places a heavy duty on the Government to consider what controls there should be on the ownership and possession of handguns. Lord Cullen concluded that there are compelling grounds for stringently restricting their use and availability. We agree with his conclusion and have taken the measures which we believe to be right and in the interests of the public.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, I understand that there is to be a debate today in another place on the subject of privately owned guns, and a very important vote is to take place. After that, the Bill will be considered in Committee in another place and will eventually find its way to this House. Would it not be better to leave the subject until the Bill comes here for a Second Reading when noble Lords can express various points of view on the use of all types of guns? That 1092 would be a more suitable time at which to discuss the matter rather than during a Question at your Lordships' Question Time.
§ Baroness BlatchMy Lords, I have enormous sympathy for what has just been said by the noble Lord. It is not an easy time, and it is a particularly sensitive time. Of course, we do not know the nature and shape of the Bill which is to come from the Commons and we cannot possibly pre-empt that. Therefore, it is a difficult matter. However, I have a duty to answer Questions on the Order Paper. The Question has been tabled and I am answering it.
§ Lord MonsonMy Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that the figures which she gave to the noble Lord, Lord Burnham, prove that less than 1 per cent. of homicides in England and Wales in 1992, 1993 and 1994 involved legally held firearms of whatever description?
§ Baroness BlatchMy Lords, that statistic is not quite right. It is 14 per cent. of those which involved shooting. If we are talking about those three years, there were under 3,000 homicides, of which 196 were shootings. Of those, 22 involved legally held guns.
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, we accept and understand the Minister's caution in answering questions. I agree with her that it would be wise for the wider issues to be debated on another occasion. But in response to the specific and very limited question of the noble Lord, Lord Burnham, does she not agree that the statistics appear to show that it is not the calibre of the legally held handguns which matters most in homicide shootings?
§ Baroness BlatchMy Lords, this is a matter for debate at another time. The Government have thought very carefully about this issue. They have taken the view that there is a body of people within the community who have engaged in a legal sport for more than 100 years and that their right to sport shooting should be protected. That is what has given rise to today's debate. We have taken seriously what Lord Cullen said: that those matters should be rigorously controlled. We have balanced rigorous control with the freedom to engage in a sport which is legal.