‘Surrender your weapons and you’ll be given compensation’
PEOPLE who own knives and weapons that are about to become illegal can now get compensation for handing them in.
Leicestershire Police are supporting a national surrender, led by the Home Office, which will see members of the public compensated for handing in offensive weapons and firearms from now until March.
The new Offensive Weapons Act extends the law, meaning that items such as flick knives and zombie knives, which were previously illegal to carry in public, will become illegal to own at all.
The compensation scheme applies to 22 types of offensive weapon, rapid firing rifles and ammunition, as well as a broad range of knives and blades as well as batons and knuckle-dusters.
The guns becoming illegal will be those currently legal weapons that have a high firing rate.
More details about the new law are available on the Government’s website. There are strict rules about carefully wrapping up and boxing weapons before delivering them to a police station, while firearms will be collected by the police and should not be taken to police stations.
Anyone with a weapon that is of historical interest can donate it to a museum under the scheme.
The list of stations and opening times for dropping off weapons in Leicestershire is as follows:
Hinckley, Monday to Friday, 9am2pm, 2.45pm-6pm, Saturday, 9am3pm; Keyham Lane, Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm; Beaumont Leys, Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm; Melton, Monday to Saturday, 9am-5pm, Sunday, 10am-4pm; Market Harborough, Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm; Mansfield House, Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm, Sunday, 10am-4pm; Loughborough, Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.45pm, Friday, 8.30am- 4.30pm (station intercom); Spinney Hill, Monday to Friday, 10am-2pm; Hinckley Road, Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm; Braunstone, Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm; Wigston, Monday to Friday, 9am6pm, Saturday, 10am-4pm.
Leicestershire Police said they had already made contact with registered legal owners of the firearms listed in the new law to arrange for the surrender of the items.
Anyone in Leicestershire or Rutland who thinks they have a registered weapon that will become illegal but has not been contacted should call 101 to arrange for the item to be collected. They should not be bought into stations.