Nearly 600 firearms handed in to police during amnesty

Nearly 600 firearms were handed in to Devon and Cornwall Police during the firearms and ammunition surrender which ran from 13 – 26 November this year.

The campaign, instigated by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), was supported by other forces around the country, including Dorset Police.

Items voluntarily surrendered at police enquiry offices across the force area totalled:

569 firearms of various types

More than 20,000 rounds of ammunition

Michelle Mounsey, Firearms and Explosives Licensing Manager for the Devon & Cornwall Police and Dorset Police Alliance, said a number of items handed in during the surrender will be subject to investigative testing.

She said: “As a result of this firearms surrender, hundreds of firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition are off our streets. While not every firearm is owned with the intent of criminal activity, every firearm becomes a weapon in the wrong hands.

“The campaign was very much an opportunity for anyone to hand in illegal, unregistered or unwanted firearms without risk of arrest at the point of surrender and while the campaign is now over, I would encourage anyone in possession of such a firearm or ammunition to contact us for safe disposal.”

During the previous surrender in 2014, Devon and Cornwall Police received 446 firearms and 15,721 rounds of ammunition.

The preliminary breakdown of the types of firearms handed in during the 2017 surrender is as follows:

67 air pistols

100 air rifles

2 airsoft guns

4 assault rifles

1 humane killer

82 pistols

72 revolvers

32 rifles

153 shotguns

12 sub machine guns