§ Lord Swanseaasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many occasions in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available a self-loading or pump-action shotgun has been used in robbery or in crimes against the person; and in how many 490WA of these cases the gun used had a barrel of less than 24 inches in length; and
On how many occasions in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available, and excluding the incident at Hungerford on 19th August 1987, a centre-fire self-loading rifle has been used in robbery or in crimes against the person.
Earl FerrersInformation on notifiable offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by offence group and principal weapon, is published annually inCriminal Statistics England and Wales (Table 3.6 of the issue for 1986, Cmnd. 233), copies of which are in the Library. The information collected relates to the principal weapon used in the offence, as reported by the victim; only the main class of weapon (long-barrelled shotgun, sawn-off shotgun, rifle, etc.) is recorded because more detailed information could not be collected reliably from victims, whose reports are often imprecise. In a large proportion of these offences the weapon used is not recovered.