§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many incidents of violent crime involving air guns there have been in each of the past 10 years; [102611]
372W(2) how many (a) fatalities and (b) woundings involving air rifles there have been in each of the past 10 years. [102612]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe following table gives the readily available information on the number of recorded violent crimes in which air weapons were reported to have been used (no distinction between air guns and air rifles is possible in the statistics collected centrally):
Recorded violent crime in which air weapons were reported to have been used in England and Wales Year Homicide Attempted murder and Other acts (including wounding) endangering life other wounding and violence against the person Robbery Total violent crime1 1989 3 146 1,701 90 1,940 1990 1 191 1,656 122 1,970 1991 2 192 1,545 156 1,895 1992 — 207 1,637 151 1,995 1993 — 200 1,504 131 1,835 1994 — 207 1,510 115 1,832 1995 1 186 1,350 112 1,649 1996 — 121 1,303 81 1,505 1997 — 75 1,374 99 1,548 1998 — 61 1,806 81 1,948 1Excludes sexual offences, few in number, and not separately identifiable in later years Figures for 1998 are not directly comparable with those for previous years because the coverage of recorded crime was extended and new counting rules employed from 1 April 1998.