Public urged to hand in unwanted or unlawfully held firearms and ammunition during two-week surrender

 

South Wales Police is supporting a national two-week firearms and ammunition surrender, which begins today (May 12).

Firearms legislation is regularly updated and the police are asking people to surrender unlawfully held or unwanted guns and ammunition to help avoid them getting into the wrong hands.

Many firearms may be held in innocence and ignorance of their illegality or may be overlooked or forgotten in people’s homes. The surrender gives holders the chance to safely dispose of the firearm or ammunition by taking it to a local police station and handing it in. Doing so minimises the risk of unwanted, unlicensed firearms becoming involved in criminality.

During the two-week period, those surrendering firearms will not face prosecution for the illegal possession at the point of surrender and they can remain anonymous. However, the history of each live firearm will be checked for evidence of its use in crime.

Detective Inspector Simon Morgan, from South Wales Police’s Force Intelligence and Organised Crime Unit, said:

“We can be proud that gun crime in the UK remains one of the lowest in the world. We are not complacent about gun crime, however, which is why we are conducting the Firearms Surrender now; we want as many guns as possible to be handed in. We would encourage people to hand them in.

“Together with our partners we continually work hard to educate people about firearms and the dangers that come with them, to ensure that gun crime doesn’t become prevalent in the future.”

Firearms and ammunition can be surrendered at any police station but anyone handing in a firearm, or a stun gun, during the Firearms Surrender is advised to check the opening times of their station and to contact 101 before travelling to receive advice on how best to transport the weapon responsibly from home to the police station.

Anyone with information about those involved in illegal firearms activity is also urged to get in touch.

Crimestoppers can be contacted completely anonymously via 0800 555 111 and you can also report online here.

In an emergency, always dial 999.