Firearms amnesty a "one off"

24 April 2010, 06:00

There are no plans for another firearms amnesty in North Hampshire, despite the last one being so successful.

Police have told Heart 119 guns were handed in during the amnesty, which ended last Sunday. Officers also received more than 1000 rounds of live ammunition.

The amnesty was launched in response to the triple shooting in Aldershot on 29th December last year, when Julie Harrison was shot along with her 4 year old daughter Maisie, by her former partner Andrew Copland, who then turned the gun on himself. At the inquest into the deaths it was revealed the gun used in the shooting had been found by Andrew in a skip when he worked as a builder in Frimley Green in 1998.

Despite police hailing the amnesty a huge success, Inspector Simon Dodd told Heart it was a one-off and is unlikely to happen again anytime soon, "We can't have amnesties all the time, otherwise people would have an excuse to carry guns and claim they were carrying them under the conditions of the amnesty."

"The last amnesty before this one was back in 2003, so they don't come around very often. It's normally up to government officials to look at amnesties that are wider across the country."

Heart has been given a full list of all the firearms handed in during the amnesty, which ran from April 2nd to April 18th:

12 handguns
41 shotguns
33 air pistols and BB guns
16 air rifles
17 other