Tougher action on guns promised

Imitation weapons can look exactly like the real thing

Police in Devon and Cornwall are being assured that people carrying an imitation weapon will be dealt with more severely by the courts.

The promise has come from the Home Office after a series of incidents which have seen ball-bearing guns, known as BB guns, fired at members of the public in the South West.

The force's police authority has become so concerned that it wrote to Home Secretary David Blunkett asking for tougher sentences for offences involving such weapons.

However, Devon and Cornwall has actually seen a decrease in the number of armed incidents it has had to attend.

Armed response

The figure fell from 64 in 2001 to 50 in 2002.

But over the last 18 months, Devon and Cornwall Police say they have had to send armed officers to dozens of incidents over what were found to be replica weapons.

The police say they have to treat every report where a gun is seen as a firearms incident, even if it proves to be a replica weapon.

The Devon and Cornwall Police Authority has been told by the Home Office new laws will be introduced to stop people carrying such weapons in public places.

'Misguided people'

The Home Office says it hopes the new legislation will help curb what it says are "misguided young people" carrying weapons as fashion accessories.

Meanwhile, the police authority has also been discussing new figures showing recorded crime in both counties has risen by about a third in the past nine months.

The biggest increase is in violent crime, where about 110,000 incidents were reported between April 2002 and the end of January, compared with 84,000 the previous year.

Devon and Cornwall Police said most of the increase was down to changes in how crimes are recorded.