19/06/2006

One in ten Britons affected by gun crime

One in ten people in the UK have been affected by gun crime or knows someone who has, within the past five years, a survey has suggested.

The survey, conducted for the Control Arms campaign group, interviewed 1,000 people and found that 11% had personal experience of firearms offences or knew someone else who had.

Almost one in six of those surveyed said that they had seen a gun which they understood to be illegal, while 81% feared that guns were being brought into the UK from abroad.

According to the latest figures, police recorded 10,878 firearms offences last year, a slight drop from 11,191 from the previous year.

The Control Arms campaign, which is run by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms, are calling for governments to introduce tough controls on the arms trade via an international arms treat, ahead of the UN conference in New York next week.

Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said: "The easy availability of guns is causing death, destruction and instilling fear across the world. It is about time that governments took heed and agreed to regulate arms exports."

(KMcA/SP)

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