§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) illegally held handguns and (b) legally held handguns have been handed in since 1 May 1997. [86746]
§ Mr. BoatengInformation on the number of illegally or legally held handguns handed in to the police on a routine basis is not kept centrally.
Following the passage of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which prohibited large and small-calibre handguns, a total of 162,198 handguns were surrendered to the police in England, Scotland and Wales.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents involving handguns have been recorded for each month since May 1997. [86745]
§ Mr. BoatengThe figures for notifiable offences recorded by the police in which handguns were reported to have been used in England and Wales since 1 May 1997 are set out in the table. The figures for 1998 are provisional and currently available for only the first three months of the year.
Month Number of offences 1997 May 214 June 208 July 212 August 212 September 183 October 216 November 237 December 266 1998 January 216 February 201 March 210