§ Mr. WilsonTo 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-HamiltonThe 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
512W
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. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will bring forward proposals to further restrict the availability of shotguns.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe 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. WilsonTo 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-HamiltonThe information is given in the table. Data for 1989 are not yet available.
513W
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.