Hundreds of firearms handed in during Police Scotland guns amnesty

Some of the weapons surrendered to Police Scotland during the amnesty - Image credit: Police Scotland

More than 1,500 illegal or unwanted firearms have been handed in to Police Scotland during a two-week amnesty.

A total of 474 guns, 690 air guns and 337 lots of ammunition were handed in to police stations around Scotland, with particularly high numbers received in the North East, Tayside and Ayrshire.

Significant weapons received by police include a machine gun, an AK47 assault rifle and a World War I pistol.

Last week, one older man from Fife handed in nine weapons and ammunition.

The aim of the campaign, which ran from 18 June to 1 July, was to take weapons out of circulation that could potentially fall into the hands of criminals.

Superintendent Ronnie Megaughin said: "The aim of the campaign was to remove firearms from criminal availability and we now have 1,501 fewer firearms, air weapons and ammunition on the streets of Scotland.

"Protecting the public is at the forefront of policing, and reducing the number of illegal or unwanted firearms lowers the risk of harm within our communities.

“Although the surrender campaign has now come to an end, we continue to work to remove illegally held weapons circulating in Scotland.”

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “This successful firearms surrender campaign has seen the removal of over 1,500 unwanted weapons from our communities – stopping them falling into the wrong hands.

“Whilst firearms offences are at historically low levels in Scotland, we will continue to work with Police Scotland to keep Scotland’s streets safe.”