§ Mr. Paice:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions have been recorded in each of the last three years for (i) carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, (ii) acquiring a firearm under the age of 17, (iii) a person under 14 possessing an airgun or ammunition, (iv) a person under 17 having an air weapon in a public place, (v) a person under 14 making improper use of an airgun when under supervision, (vi) supplying an air weapon to a person under 14, (vii) discharging a firearm
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and convicted at all courts for certain firearms offences, England and Wales 1999 to 20011 1999 20002 2001 Offence description Statute Proceeded against Convicted Proceeded against Convicted Proceeded against Convicted (See footnote (3) for definition of Firearm Groups) Carrying a loaded firearm in a public place Carrying loaded firearm in public Firearms Act 1968 sec. 19 amended 81 63 71 49 66 52 place etc.(Group I). by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 sec. 157 sch. 8 part III Carrying loaded firearm in public Ibid. 25 21 22 17 22 13 place etc. (Group II). Carrying loaded firearm in public Ibid. 237 176 213 170 241 180 place etc.(Group III). Total 343 260 306 236 329 245 Acquiring a firearm under the age of 17 Person under 17 acquiring firearm Firearms Act 1968 section 22(1). 3 3 2 1 2 2 (Group I) Person under 17 acquiring firearm Ibid. 1 1 — — 1 — (Group II) Person under 17 acquiring firearm Ibid. 3 1 3 3 2 1 (Group III) Total 7 5 5 4 5 3 Person under 14 having with him Firearms Act 1968 section 22(4) 13 12 21 16 12 3 an air weapon or ammunition therefore, (Group III). Person under 17 having with him Firearms Act 1968 section 22(5) 68 54 66 52 66 46 an air weapon in a public place, (Group III) Person under 14 making improper Firearms Act 1968 section 23(1)(a) — — 1 1 1 1 use of air weapon when under supervision, (Group III) Supplying air weapon to person Firearms Act 1968, sec. 24(4) 2 2 4 2 2 2 under 14, (Group III) Person supervising person under Firearms Act 1968 section 23(1)(b) — — 2 2 — — 14, permitting improper use of air weapon, (Group III) 1These data are on the principal offence basis. 2Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. 3For the purposes of recording offences, firearms are divided into three groups as below: Group I—All firearms etc. other than those described in Groups II and III.