Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing over the last 10 years the number of times firearms were used in each year in armed robberies in Northern Ireland; and the types of firearms used in each year under the headings of shotguns, sawn-off shotguns, hand guns, rifles, sub-machine guns, air or gas-powered guns, guns which discharged gas or noxious liquid and other weapons and unidentified types.
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§ Mr. MasonRecords of the number of robberies in which firearms were used have been maintained centrally since 1971, and are as follows:
1971 … 489 1972 … 1,931 1973 … 1,317 1974 … 1,353 1975 … 1,324 1976 … 889 1977 … 676 1978 (until 28th February) … 96 Detailed information as to the type of weapon used is not readily available.