Firearm amnesty rids pistols and machine guns from criminal contact
- Anonymous owners of firearms hand in their weapons to Greater Manchester Police
- Two-week weapon amnesty part of wider 'National Firearm Surrender 2019' campaign
- Police warn owners of legitimately held firearms as gun theft has increased over the last year
As a two-week firearms amnesty comes to an end, hauls of arms handed in anonymously are being handled by police officers across Greater Manchester.
In an operation from Saturday 20 July to Sunday 4 August, over 100 submissions of weapons took place in the first week, people disposed of a wide range of illegal firearms including an AK 47, MP5’s, an Uzi sub-machine gun, a Borrock revolver and a WW2 Machine gun.
Setting the sights on reducing violent crime, the amnesty is part of the National Firearm Surrender 2019, aiming to prevent the circulation of weapons on the streets by removing potentially dangerous weapons from inside the homes of people who legitimately own weapons, often falling into the hands of criminals through gun theft.
Chief Superintendent Tony Creely said: “Gun crime in the UK remains one of the lowest in the world, however, we are not complacent about this type of crime, which is why we are conducting the firearms surrender now.”
The National Firearms Surrender campaign coincides with the latest Home Affairs Committee’s report which describes serious youth violence as a “social emergency” with knife crime rising 70% in the last five years, however, there is no mention of incidents involving firearms in the report.