Government plan gun tip-off scheme
Updated on 26 August 2007
Informants will be able to anonymously tip off the police about illegal guns, under a new Home Office scheme to crack down on gun crime.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said people who knew where firearms were hidden or were holding them for a relative or friend, needed to be able to come forward without revealing their identity.
Ms Smith said police and Home Office officials were considering establishing a network of "drop off zones" where weapons could be handed in at a neutral place.
But the proposals have been dismissed by the Conservatives as "feeble".
Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "Frankly, I think it's a feeble response. Amnesties have a place. They had a place in trying to deal with knife crime before and knife crime has doubled in the last couple of years."
He added: "I think the Government, frankly, seem paralysed in the wake of this real concern in the country about the increase in violence and in particular the increase in knife crime and gun crime. They simply don't seem to know what to do."
The Government's plans follow the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool.
Ms Smith said her priority was to get guns off the streets, amid mounting public alarm about the recent spate of shootings involving young children and teenagers.
The Home Office earlier denied there would be an amnesty for people who possessed illegal firearms, saying police would always need to be able to investigate any weapon in relation to any crime that had been committed.
A spokesman said trial schemes could be set up in areas facing acute problems with gun and gang crime.
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