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Disappointing response to national firearms amnesty

Jason Bennetto
Monday 10 June 1996 23:02 BST
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There has been a disappointing response to the national firearms amnesty. Nearly 5,000 guns were handed in to police during the first week of the amnesty. In the month- long amnesty in 1988, which followed the Hungerford massacre, the public handed in 48,000 firearms and 1.5 million rounds of ammunition.

The Home Office is confident that the total for the current initiative, provoked by the Dunblane tragedy, will rise towards the end of June. So far most guns were recovered in Strathclyde police region, which includes Glasgow, where 245 firearms were handed over, followed by Thames Valley, 219; Dorset, 198; Sussex, 182; Avon and Somerset, 181; Kent and the Metropolitan Police jointly on 157, and Lothian and Borders, 151.

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