A firearms amnesty by Greater Manchester Police has been ‘extremely successful’ as nearly 90 weapons have been surrendered in the first week.
The GMP put 88 items on display as it reached the halfway point of its ‘Give up the Gun’ appeal, which began on Saturday 12 July.
Police are appealing to people to surrender unlawfully held or unwanted guns and ammunition to help prevent them getting into the wrong hands.
This is their first amnesty since 2008, when around 1,000 weapons were recovered.
Giving up unwanted, unlicensed weapons avoids the risk of them becoming involved in criminal activities and also means the public have a safe way to dispose of firearms.
DCI Debbie Dooley, who leads the GMP Xcalibre Task Force said: “It has been an extremely successful first week for the amnesty but we know there are many more firearms out there that we can take off the streets.
“We urge those who are still holding onto weapons to take this opportunity to hand them in, no questions asked.
“The more weapons we are able to secure, the less criminal opportunity there is. The message is simple – give up the gun.”
Between 1999 and 2009, 112 people in Manchester died in incidents relating to gun crime, earning the city the nickname ‘Gunchester’.
A 2003 month-long national gun amnesty recovered more than 20,000 weapons, but critics said most of the weapons handed in were old, unused or simply used for hunting, and that the amnesty had little impact in urban areas where gun crime was a problem.
