Over 70 guns reported stolen in decade

More than 70 guns have been reported stolen in Avon and Somerset in the past decade.

As well as the risk from such unaccounted for weapons, there is also a growing threat from criminal gangs converting replica handguns sold legally in the UK into lethal weapons in a disturbing homegrown gun threat.

Between 2011 and 2020, 71 guns were reported as stolen to the Avon and Somerset Police, with another 60 reported as lost.

That number includes three reported stolen in 2020, all shotguns, down from six in 2019.

As well as this there was one gun reported as lost last year – a shotgun – down from eight lost in 2019.

Across England and Wales, nearly 5,000 firearms have been stolen since 2011 and another 1,500 reported lost, a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office has revealed.

There are nearly 1.4 million shotguns and more than 600,000 other firearms, mostly rifles, held legally in the UK.

Genuine handguns fetch up to £10,000 in the criminal underworld. But the National Crime

Agency (NCA) said young urban street gangs prefer converted weapons due to their ready availability.

Gun crime in the UK remains low compared with many other countries, but increased 38 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

Previously these were made from front-venting, blank-firing replicas, which can be more easily converted, and while legal in some parts of Europe are outlawed here.

But in recent months police have seized more weapons converted from the top or side-venting blank firers that are legal here.

Matt Perfect, NCA’S firearms threat lead, said: “Since 2020, 175 firearms examined were confirmed as being converted blank firers.

“Recent indications suggest an increasing number of these are top/side-venting models which, prior to conversion, may have been sold lawfully within the UK.”

The number seized has surged in the past six months and a string of conversion “factories” have been raided, the NCA said – with several uncovered in both Manchester and London, according to Mr Perfect.

The replicas of real handguns from manufacturers such as Beretta and Glock are legally sold to hobbyists here as they were considered safe, with solid barrels and capable of firing only blanks. But now criminals have worked out how to replace the replicas’ solid barrels with hollow ones to turn a toy into a lethal weapon.

The agency has stopped more than 500 entering the UK from Europe since 2018, smuggled in parcels or other shipments. Under the Violent Crime Reduction Act, anyone buying such a replica must prove they need it for legitimate reasons, including for a hobby.

Printed weapons are uncommon – the NCA has seized fewer than 10 3D printed weapons in the past year, but it remains wary of the threat.