Gun amnesty sees 40 firearms surrendered to police

The firearms amnesty ran from Monday 10 to Friday 21 November and gave anyone who possessed a firearm or ammunition the opportunity surrender it without fear of criminal proceedings.

Procedures were in place to collect any firearms safely, while members of the public also handed weapons into police station across Bedfordshire.

During the amnesty 21 hand guns, shotguns and rifles were handed in along with 16 air rifles, two guns that fired blanks, a toy gun, three flares and 14 lots of assorted ammunition.

Chief Inspector Gavin Hughes-Rowlands, who organised the Beds Police amnesty: “With the help of the public we have removed these weapons and ammunition from the streets of Bedfordshire.

“Taking these weapons out of public circulation reduces the chance of them falling into the wrong hands and being used in future crimes.

“I’m pleased to say that the majority of firearms have been surrendered by members of the public either via our collection service or by bringing them into police stations.

“It must be remembered that Bedfordshire is a small county with only two centres of population, so we’d expect to have less handed in that other, larger neighbouring counties.”

You can still surrender weapons and ammunition by calling 101.