Police urge people to hand in firearms with no questions asked

People across Yorkshire are urged to hand over guns and ammunition without fear facing prosecution for illegal possession.
People across Yorkshire are urged to hand over guns and ammunition without fear facing prosecution for illegal possession. Pictured are guns handed in during a previous amnesty.People across Yorkshire are urged to hand over guns and ammunition without fear facing prosecution for illegal possession. Pictured are guns handed in during a previous amnesty.
People across Yorkshire are urged to hand over guns and ammunition without fear facing prosecution for illegal possession. Pictured are guns handed in during a previous amnesty.

The four Yorkshire forces will take part in a national firearm surrender and are appealing to people to hand in the firearms in a bid to make the streets safer.

Despite the latest statistics showing overall gun crime is less now than 10 years ago, Yorkshire's largest police force, West Yorkshire Police has seen a rise in recorded offences.

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The force, along with Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Cheshire Police handled more incidents than in any year since 2007/08, the Office for National Statistics revealed.

West Yorkshire Police dealt with 481 incidents of firearms offences during 2017/18, a rise of 10 per cent on the previous year and more than double the figure recorded four years earlier.

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This surrender will give people the chance to dispose of firearms and ammunition by taking guns to a police station and handing them over.

The surrender will take start on Saturday and will run until midnight on Sunday, August 4.

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During this time, members of the community can safely dispose of their firearms and will not face prosecution for the illegal possession, but will not be immune from prosecution for the life of the weapon. If a gun or ammunition is believed to have been used in previous criminal activity, this will be fully investigated.

Detective Inspector Marie Bulmer, from South Yorkshire Police, said: “When a gun falls into the wrong hands the damage can be devastating and life-long. This is your chance to help make sure there are less weapons on our streets.

“I urge anyone who has a firearm being kept illegally to hand it in to your nearest police station, this can be done anonymously. I also ask anyone who knows of someone else keeping a firearm to report it via 101 or Crimestoppers.

“One weapon off the streets is one less that can be used to harm people in our communities.”