Police report rise in gun alerts

Real or replica? ACC Ricky Gray displays a pistol

Scotland's largest police force has reported a large increase in the number of calls it has dealt with involving firearms.

A 27% per cent rise in gun emergencies has been reported in Strathclyde in the past four months, compared to the same period last year.

Last week alone there were six, including a young boy with learning difficulties carrying an air weapon.

But police report a fall in the criminal use of firearms.

Assistant chief constable Ricky Gray attributed the rise in 999 firearm calls partly to better information gathering, but warned there had been a general increase in the number of youngsters and adults carrying guns.

As many as 1,077 firearms incidents were reported, compared to 837 for the same period last year.

Police chiefs also voiced fears about a significant increase in the number of people carrying replica and air weapons and warned that lives were being put at risk.

Officers had found many sites on the internet where people are buying replica weapons and some local shops in Glasgow sell them Assistant Chief Constable Ricky Gray

They say police do not have time to check whether a gun confronting them is potentially lethal or not.

ACC Gray stressed that officers on a 999 call, in which there had been a report of a firearm being used, had only a split second to decide how to deal with it.

He said: "Our officers had found many sites on the internet where people are buying replica weapons and some local shops in Glasgow sell them.

"If you are confronted with somebody pointing one of these at you, there is no way of telling it's not real."

The police chief added: "There's also a popular misconception that carrying air weapons isn't an offence.

"Recently, we discovered a youngster discharging an air weapon at members of the public as they passed by; that's a fairly regular occurrence."

Gun amnesty

He said the force had recovered 45 weapons since April, compared to 40 during the same period last year.

"Small hand guns, rifles you name it, we've recovered it," said ACC Gray.

More than 3,000 firearms were surrendered during a month-long weapons amnesty last year.

David Mellor, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos), said: "All eight Scottish police forces played their part in making the firearms amnesty a success.

"It will be no longer possible for the firearms and weapons handed in to harm or frighten anyone."

The Scottish Executive organised the amnesty in the wake of heightened security fears following the start of the Iraq war.