Illegal Firearms/ Gun Crime

What are Illegal Firearms/ Gun Crime?

The level of gun crime in the UK is one of the lowest in the world. However, the National Crime Agency (NCA) actively works to stop illegal firearms from entering the country and campaigns to raise awareness of the UK’s firearms legislation. The NCA’s key message is to ‘Know the law: It’s illegal to possess most firearms without a licence in the UK’. Read more National Crime Agency.

Find out how firearms enter the criminal market by following the Infographic.

Sir Peter Fahy, former Greater Manchester Police chief constable, spoke out on firearms legislation in the wake of the Plymouth shootings (Manchester News).

“I think you would have to stand back and say this was an awful tragedy with a huge impact obviously on the families and on the community, but in general these sorts of events are incredibly rare. The last one was about 10 years ago, whereas they get hundreds every year in the United States, so our licensing laws on firearms are some of the most strict in the world.”

“Things like handguns, pistols, are completely banned after the Dunblane tragedy and, on the whole, you would have to say the system appears to work and these sorts of tragedies are incredibly rare, and for instance there’s only about 30 murders a year which involve firearms, and they are ones which are illegally held largely and you would never get a certificate for.”