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Introduction
This bulletin forms part of The Scottish Executive series of bulletins on the criminal justice system. It covers those crimes and offences recorded by the police in which a firearm was alleged to have been used or where a firearm was stolen.
Not all such crimes and offences are reported to the police. The extent of under-reporting is likely to vary considerably according to the seriousness of the crime or offence; for example, armed robberies are much more likely to be reported to the police than malicious damage caused by the firing of an airweapon. Moreover, the propensity of the public to report crimes and offences to the police is influenced by a number of factors and may therefore change over time; thus trends in the number of crimes and offences recorded may differ from trends in the number of crimes and offences committed.
From this bulletin onward, tables on firearms offences will exclude minor offences under the Firearms 1968 Act, mainly relating to possession, handling and distribution of weapons and ammunition. This is due to the fact that it has become apparent that these offences have not been consistently reported in previous years. Totals for these offences are presented in a new table.
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