§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he plans to take to meet his target of a 3 per cent. annual reduction in the number of offences involving firearms. [159034]
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§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe police and other law enforcement agencies are working to combat the illegal possession and criminal use of firearms and the Government are fully committed to supporting them in this task and in carrying out their general operational responsibilities. The United Kingdom has strict laws governing the possession and use of firearms and the penalties for contraventions are high. Among measures which are currently being taken to tackle gun crime are
Improved Home Office advice on the safe keeping of firearms to prevent them being stolen;Stricter standards of deactivation to stop guns from being restored to working order;Possible restrictions on the sale or possession in public of replica weapons;Targeted policing measures against particular groups of criminals associated with armed violence;Proactive intelligence gathering on sources of weapons used in crime. In particular, work is in hand to develop a National Firearms Forensic Intelligence Database which will allow information on firearms (including bullets, cartridge cases, weapons and weapons components) used in crime to be captured, collated and links established between different incidents; andA national database of firearms certificate holders is being established.The Government have also supported international efforts to negotiate a United Nations Protocol against the illicit manufacture of and trafficking in firearms.
It is important that it action to reduce the number of offences involving firearms which represents about 0.1 per cent. of all offences, is not taken in isolation from other criminal activities which may encourage the possession of guns, such as the drugs trade.