HC Deb 01 May 1990 vol 171 cc511-3W
Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state the number of firearms licensed, by category, held in Scotland in each of the past 10 years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The number of firearm and shotgun certificates in force in Scotland at 31 December is shown in the following table:

Year Firearm Shotgun
1980 38,752 85,126
1981 38,548 84,847
1982 38,115 84,183

Crimes and Offences in Scotland recorded by the police in which a firearm was alleged to have been used, by main firearm used and police force area
Shotgun Rifle Pistol/ Revolver Airweapon Imitation/ Other1> Total Total (excluding airweaponsj
Northern
1980 6 2 1 0 1 10 10
1981 9 0 1 26 0 36 10
1982 11 2 0 19 0 32 13
1983 4 1 1 15 0 21 6
1984 9 0 0 19 1 29 10
1985 6 2 2 13 0 23 10
1986 4 0 2 12 0 18 6
1987 11 2 0 11 0 24 13
1988 7 4 0 14 2 27 13
Grampian
1980 22 6 0 144 4 176 32
1981 4 1 0 123 3 131 8
1982 7 0 0 106 0 113 7
1983 5 0 1 105 3 114 9
1984 8 5 0 79 2 94 15
1985 3 1 3 93 2 102 9
1986 2 1 0 86 0 89 3
1987 2 3 0 122 4 131 9
1988 3 2 0 120 3 128 8
Tayside
1980 4 0 8 22 2 36 14
1981 9 4 4 74 2 93 19
1982 9 2 1 80 4 96 16
1983 11 4 1 94 3 113 19
1984 7 2 4 57 0 70 13
1985 4 0 0 78 4 86 8
1986 13 0 2 84 9 108 24
1987 8 I 1 60 6 76 16
1988 5 0 1 32 3 41 9
Fife
1980 0 0 0 29 0 29 0
1981 0 0 1 13 0 14 1
1982 0 0 0 24 1 25 1
1983 2 0 1 26 1 30 4
1984 3 0 0 19 0 22 3
1985 2 0 3 30 1 36 6
1986 4 0 0 48 1 53 5

Year Firearm Shotgun
1983 37,825 84,306
1984 37,750 84,606
1985 38,165 86,198
1986 38,295 87,528
1987 38,465 89,104
1988 38,341 89,493
1989 33,540 87,049

Note: A certificate may authorise the holding of more than one firearm or shotgun. Figures for the total number of firearms and shotguns authorised to be held are not available.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will bring forward proposals to further restrict the availability of shotguns.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 introduced stricter controls on the acquisition and possession of shotguns. There are no present plans to introduce further legislation, but the matter is kept under continuing review.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list, by area, the number of reported offences involving the use of firearms, by category, in each of the past 10 years.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The information is given in the table. Data for 1989 are not yet available.

Shotgun Rifle Pistol/ Revolver Airweapon Imitation/ Other1 Total Total (excluding airweapons)
1987 5 0 0 50 1 56 6
1988 3 0 0 35 3 41 6
Lothian and Borders
1980 5 7 3 162 2 179 17
1981 8 4 10 125 2 149 24
1982 13 16 23 155 11 218 63
1983 16 3 13 121 9 162 41
1984 11 0 14 228 5 258 30
1985 25 1 12 329 23 390 61
1986 19 3 3 282 21 328 46
1987 15 5 10 184 18 235 51
1988 12 1 4 116 9 142 26
Central
1980 1 0 0 93 6 100 7
1981 4 1 0 89 0 94 5
1982 1 0 1 96 3 101 5
1983 1 1 1 74 0 77 3
1984 1 0 0 68 0 69 1
1985 0 0 1 91 3 95 4
1986 2 0 0 81 0 83 2
1987 0 0 0 69 0 69 0
1988 1 0 0 25 0 26 1
Strathclyde
1980 24 4 10 474 50 562 88
1981 48 3 10 672 61 794 122
1982 56 3 21 570 45 695 125
1983 81 2 25 645 65 818 173
1984 92 4 5 614 88 803 189
1985 78 0 6 719 114 917 198
1986 109 1 4 605 112 831 226
1987 97 5 13 586 122 823 237
1988 103 0 7 473 151 734 261
Dumfries and Galloway
1980 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
1981 2 1 0 0 0 3 3
1982 1 1 1 0 0 3 3
1983 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
1984 6 2 0 0 0 8 8
1985 11 4 1 10 0 26 16
1986 4 1 0 8 2 15 7
1987 1 1 0 12 1 15 3
1988 5 2 1 9 2 19 10
Scotland
1980 62 20 22 924 65 1,093 169
1981 84 14 26 1,122 68 1,314 192
1982 98 24 47 1,050 64 1,283 233
1983 120 11 43 1,081 81 1,336 255
1984 137 13 23 1,084 96 1,353 269
1985 129 8 28 1,363 147 1,675 312
1986 157 6 11 1,206 145 1,525 319
1987 142 17 24 1,094 152 1,429 335
1988 139 9 13 824 173 1,158 334
1 The rise in the "Other" category of firearm type in 1985 probably reflects the introduction in that year of a new firearm type category, "Unidentified", in the data collection procedures. Previously, unidentified types of firearm would have been forced into one of the specific categories.
2 Variations in police recording practice can occur between areas and over time. It is known that the introduction of computerised crime logging systems has resulted in improved recording procedures and as such systems come to be more used minor corrections to recorded figures will continue to occur.