Review of Firearms Legislation
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime, today welcomed the announcement from the Home Office to conduct a comprehensive review of the UK's gun laws and to provide £2.25 million for community groups tackling gun crime. But was concerned at the decision by the government to rule out a ban of imitation weapons.
Ms Abbott said "A review of the present legislation has been needed for some time. The use of guns in criminality has changed and the law must change with it to combat gun violence. The rise in use of imitation weapons, whether to threaten or to be converted to fire live ammunition must be addressed. Recently the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime, which I chair, called for a complete ban on the manufacture, importation and sale of imitation firearms. This review of firearms legislation is an ideal opportunity to change the law in order to take replica's out of criminal's reach. The consultation paper states that a ban is not needed, but I urge the government to heed the advice of the APPG and the Association of Chief Police Officers to ban imitations outright".
And she continued "Every week people in Hackney are threatened, injured or killed by people using imitation fire arms . And this is true of urban communities up and down the country. I very much regret that the Government is not listening to the communities and the police on this matter. This is a missed opportunity to win an important battle on the war against gun crime."
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