§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shotgun licences have been (a) applied for and (b) issued in (i) the Metropolitan Police district and (ii) England and Wales during each of the most recent 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Giles ShawInformation on the total number of applications made for shotgun certificates in the Metropolitan Police district and England and Wales during the last 10 years is not available.
The numbers of shotgun certificates issued in the Metropolitan Police district over the last 10 years is as follows:
Year Number of shotgun certificates issued 1974 3,948 1975 3,466 1976 3,756 1977 3,269 1978 2,923 1979 2,908 1980 3,246 1981 3,348 1982 2,504 1983 3,378 The information in respect of England and Wales was collected centrally for the first time in 1983 when the total number of shotgun certificates issued was 46,612.
§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the number of shotguns currently in use (a) legally and (b) illegally.
§ Mr. Giles ShawIt is not possible to estimate the total number of shotguns currently in use legally, because a shotgun certificate does not record the number of shotguns held. However, the number of shotgun certificates in force in England and Wales on 31 December 1983, the latest date for which figures are available, was 783,378. We have no reliable information on which to base an estimate of the number of shotguns held illegally.
§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been killed by the deliberate use of shotguns in (a) the Metropolitan police district and (b) England and Wales during each of the most recent 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe available information relates to offences initially recorded as homicide and is given in the following table. The figure for England and Wales is now published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (table 3.3 of the issue for 1983, Cmnd. 9349).
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Offences initially recorded by the police as homicide* in which shotguns were reported to have been used† Number England and Wales Metropolitan Police District 1973 18 2 1974 35 4
England and Wales Metropolitan Police District 1975 29 4 1976 34 4 1977 15 1 1978 28 5 1979 42 4 1980 12 — 1981 21 3 1982 35 9 1983 32 8 * Includes offences subsequently decided by the courts or the police not to be homicide. †lncludes cases where the shotgun was used as a blunt instrument.
§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shotgun licences were in force in (a) the Metropolitan Police district and (b) England and Wales at the end of each of the most recent 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe information in respect of England and Wales was not regularly collected centrally before 1979. The available information is as follows:
Number of Shotgun Certificates in force on 31 December (a) (b) Year Metropolitan Police England and Wales 1974 41,281 766,952 1975 30,531 — 1976 31,353 — 1977 31,850 — 1978 32,308 — 1979 30,259 782,074 1980 28,990 781,854 1981 29,528 785,225 1982 28,504 780,629 1983 29,747 783,378
§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases shotguns have been used in the course of robberies in (a) the Metropolitan Police district and (b) England and Wales during each of the most recent 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Giles ShawInformation on the numbers of robberies recorded by the police in England and Wales in which firearms were repotted to have been used is published annually by type of weapon in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales". (Table 3.4 of the latest issue for 1983, Cmnd. 9349). Information for the Metropolitan Police district is given in the following table:
Offences of robbery recorded by the police in the Metropolitan police district in which shotguns were reported to have been used Year Number of offences 1973 *149 1974 *140 1975 *222 1976 *276 1977 *360 1978 *323 1979 291 1980 196 1981 387 1982 491 1983 361 * Including a small number of offences in the City of London.