§ Sir John Farrasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the decline in England and Wales in the last 10 years of section 1 firearm ownership; and if he will give figures.
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§ Mr. Giles ShawInformation on the numbers of section 1 firearm certificates held has only been collected regularly since 1979. The information for each of the years since then is as follows:
Number of firearm certificates on issue in England and Wales as at 31 December Year Firearm certificates 1979 169,590 1980 168,047 1981 164,872 1982 162,696 1983 159,804 The figure for 1984 is not yet available, but the decline between 1979 and 1983 was 6 per cent.