Guns and ammunition taken out of circulation in Nottinghamshire after police campaign

Nearly 100 guns were taken out of circulation during a voluntary surrender campaign – placing them beyond the reach of local criminals.

The move by Nottinghamshire Police came as part of a nation wide scheme where forces across the country asked people to come forward with unwanted guns and ammunition between May 12th and 29th.

The national campaign, organised by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), took aim at potentially dangerous firearms in people’s homes and during this surrender period members of the public were able to hand items in without facing prosecution for possession offences.

During the course of the campaign, shotguns, rifles, pistols a selection of air weapons and even gunpowder were handed in at police stations across and county. Several shotgun cartridges, various Bullets and a starting pistol were also volunteered to surrender.

On the dangers of these items, Detective Sergeant Rob Spry, of Nottinghamshire Police’s archives and exhibits team, said: “Nearly every one of these weapons could pose a risk to the public if they were to fall into the wrong hands. Even blank firing weapons can easily be converted to fire live rounds so it is vital that they don’t fall into the hands of criminals."

“We know that some people end up in possession of unwanted weapons for a variety of different reasons. Some are family heirlooms or trophies handed down through generations; others are weapons that have reached the end of their working lives.

“Disposing of these items isn’t straight forward so people can end up hanging on to them because they are unsure of what to do with them. So, it is important that we give people this opportunity to hand them over no questions asked. We are also happy to take calls at any time of the year from people who wish to hand over firearms in their possession.

“Gun crime is thankfully extremely rare in Nottinghamshire. Initiatives like this help us to keep it that way.”

Those who surrendered firearms during the two-week campaign will not prosecution for illegal items in their possession. However, no exemptions were in place to cover previous offences committed with those weapons.

The weapons have all been catalogued and will now be broken up.

Anyone with information about illegal firearms can report what they know anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.