A TOTAL of 228 firearms have been handed in during Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police’s firearms surrender campaign – including 31 in Redditch.
The campaign, which ran from November 15 to November 26, is part of a national initiative to reduce gun crime and a total of 228 firearms and 93 lots of ammunition have been surrendered across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire.
All of these have now been made safe and most of them will be taken away to be cut up and melted down. Exceptionally rare weapons or those with high historical value may be donated to a museum.
Following the campaign, Deputy Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said: “We’ve had a great public response to the firearms surrender and I’d like to thank everyone who played their part in the initiative.
“Although we don’t have a significant gun crime problem within our policing areas, every weapon has the potential to fall into the wrong hands and thanks to this support, 228 firearms have now been taken out of circulation.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who handed in weapons or ammunition during this time. It is great to see that there are so many people as committed as we are to making our communities even safer and protecting people from harm.”
West Mercia Police and Commissioner John Campion added: “By reducing the number of weapons in our area, our communities are safer and feel safer. I am pleased that the public have actively supported the police by taking part in this surrender.”
Even though this campaign is over, people are still able to hand in any firearms or ammunition they no longer want. This can be done at your local designated police station – please call 101 for more information.
