Several firearms licences were revoked by police in Northumbria last year, new figures show.

Across England and Wales, a record number of licences were removed from firearms users, with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation praising the vetting process for catching unsuitable gun owners.

Action on Armed Violence, a campaign group that aims to end armed violence, said the UK's gun laws "work", with firearms deaths lower nationally than in many other countries.

Home Office figures show six firearms licences were revoked by Northumbria Police in the year to March – in line with 2021-22.

In 2008-09, when records first began, seven firearms were revoked.

Meanwhile, a further 12 shotgun licences were revoked last year.

 

Martin Parker, head of firearms at the association, said the reason for the record numbers is "almost certainly the introduction of statutory guidance on suitability checks of certificate holders in 2021", which the BASC assisted in creating to improve consistency across police forces in England and Wales.

Mr Parker added: "Shooting is an incredibly popular activity, incorporating tens of thousands of jobs, highly competitive target and clay pigeon shooting, and essential wildlife management."

Iain Overton, executive director of AOAV, said the figures "can be viewed two ways: the first is, reassuringly, in that there are attempts to assure that firearms in the UK are only held by those capable of using them legally. The second is a cause of concern, that the numbers are rising".

"The truth is that we, compared to many countries, are a remarkably safe nation for firearm deaths. Ultimately, we should be more concerned with knife crime than gun crime. In an imperfect world, our gun laws work," he added.

The figures also show 522 firearms and shotguns were lost or stolen across England and Wales in 2022-23 – 19% higher than the year before and 43% higher than two years ago.

In Northumbria, one firearms or shotguns were lost or stolen – though this was down from three in 2020-21.