MPs report on UK gun crime
An all-party parliamentary group of MPs is due to publish a report on gun crime today.
MPs are expected to call for more armed police and a ban on the sale and importation of replica firearms.
Some replica guns can be converted to fire live ammunition for just a few hundred pounds.
The investigation by the all-party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime follows a series of high-profile shootings, including the wounding of young children in London and Liverpool, and the fatal shootings of Birmingham teenagers Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis.
Home Office figures released last month showed gun crime in Britain had doubled since Labour came to power, with a record 10,250 offences in the year to March.
However, the increase did appear to be slowing down, as firearms were used in three per cent more offences in 2002-2003, compared with a massive 35 per cent leap the year before.
Home secretary David Blunkett faces mounting pressure from the public and opposition parties to tackle gun crime after a spate of high-profile shootings. He pledged to take action at this year’s Labour Party annual conference.
Meanwhile, senior police officers have warned that criminals are making use of the internet and postal system to get guns into the UK and have called for an increase in armed officers.
In their submission to MPs, senior officers said they had seized guns which had been ordered from overseas on internet shopping sites and warned that the system of acquiring guns abroad for use in the UK was largely unpoliced.
Police also called for hospitals to be legally obliged to report gunshot wounds.
The committee heard evidence from police, community groups and crime victims.
