§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his policies for(a) limiting the ease of use of stolen shotguns and (b) requiring them to be fitted with barrel locks when being stored. [22098]
§ Mr. MacleanThe primary purpose of the existing controls on firearms and shotguns is public safety. The firearms rules 1989 require all shotgun certificate holders to store their guns securely so as to prevent, as far as is reasonably practicable, unauthorised access and to take all reasonable precautions to prevent theft during transit. Appropriate. security arrangements will depend upon the individual circumstances in each case. Home Office guidance on security suggests that barrel blocks may provide extra security but should never be used instead of 295W a locked gun cabinet or other similarly secure container. The Firearms Consultative Committee, the independent body which advises my right hon. and learned Friend on firearms matters, recommended in its fourth annual report, 1992-93 that barrel block devices should not be made mandatory and there are no plans to do so.
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shotguns have been stolen from authorised firearm keepers in each of the last five years. [22097]
§ Mr. MacleanThe available information relates to the number of incidents in which shotguns were stolen in England and Wales. The following table gives the figures for the years 1989-1993.
Notifiable offences of burglary or theft recorded by the police in which shotguns were reported to have been stolen Number 1989 495 1990 479 1991 574 1992 570 1993 594