QUARTERLY UPDATE

The Home Office produces Quarterly Updates on Crime in England and Wales.  These include data on firearms offences (excluding airguns).

For "A Guide to and Review of Home Office Gun Crime Statistics" see Hales (2006)

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The latest Update was published in October 2011 which reported that there was a 16% drop in the number of firearms offences (to 6689) in the Year to June 2011. 

More details were given in an earlier report for the Year to March 2011 and the following data are from that report.

Handguns were used in 3090 offences, a decrease of 17 per cent from 2009/10

Shotguns were used in 601 offences, an increase of 3 per cent from 2009/10

Imitation weapons were used in 1595 offences, an increase of 5 per cent from 2009/10

There were a total of 1946 crimes in which firearms were reported to have caused injury, 1.7 percent more than in 2009/10.  Firearms caused 55 Fatal Injuries, which included the 12 victims of Derrick Bird in Cumbria.  That is 15 more than the previous year. There were 298 offences in which a gun was fired and which resulted in Serious Injury (a 9 percent decrease) and 1593 which resulted in Slight Injury (a 4 percent increase).  Nearly three quarters of firearm offences involved no physical injury, although there were 4080 instances in which they were used to Threaten (19 percent fewer than in 2009/10).

 

Weapon type

Year to

March 2010

 Year to

March 2011
% change
       
Shotgun  

584
601
3
Handgun
3744
3090
-17
Imitation
1512
1595
5

Rifle

     66

      73

        11

Unidentified

  1373

              977

      -29

Other firearm

   779

    670

      -14

Total

8052

7006

-13

Other includes CS gas, disguised firearms, machine guns, pepper spray, stun guns and other specified weapons (majority are paintball guns)

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> See Quarterly Update to June 2011 - October 2011 - Statistical Bulletin 16/11

> See Crime in England and Wales 2010/2011 - July 2011 - Statistical Bulletin 10/11

> See Quarterly Update to September 2010 - January 2011 - Statistical Bulletin 02/11

> See Quarterly Update to June 2010 - October 2010 - Statistical Bulletin 16/10

> See Crime in England and Wales 2009/2010 - July 2010 - Statistical Bulletin 12/10

> See Quarterly Update to December 2009 - April 2010 - Statistical Bulletin 07/10

> See Quarterly Update to September 2009 - January 2010 - Statistical Bulletin 02/10

 

> See the Annual Statistics for England and Wales

 

 

 

FACTS ABOUT GUNS

Terminology

Facts about Guns

How Britain Compares with Other Countries

Firearms and Suicide

Gun Deaths and Injuries in the UK