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Main Points
- Figures in this bulletin differ from those previously published because minor Firearms 1968 Act offences, mainly relating to possession, handling and distribution of weapons and ammunition, are no longer included in the main tables. Totals for these offences are presented in a new table ( Table 15).
- In 2005-06 the Scottish police recorded 1,068 offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been used, a decrease of 6 per cent from the total of 1,136 recorded in 2004-05, and 28 per cent lower than the 1996-97 figure of 1,481. ( Table 1)
- The use of firearms in criminal activity constituted only a small proportion of all offences recorded by the police in 2005-06; 8 per cent of recorded homicides (8 offences), 5 per cent of recorded attempted murders (35 offences), and 2 per cent of recorded robberies (74 offences). Less than 0.5 per cent of other offences involved the alleged use of a firearm. ( Table 2)
- Numbers of identified firearms, relative to unidentified firearms, were expected to rise in 2005-06 as a result of an agreement with police forces that weapons would be identified whenever possible, based on evidence such as type of damage caused, even if the weapons were not recovered. This has proved to be the case, with identified firearm categories showing an increase and unidentified firearms showing a decrease. ( Table 3)
- The number of offences in which a firearm was fired and killed or caused injury to a person fell by nearly 40 per cent from 324 in 2004-05 to 197 in 2005-06. ( Table 5)
- In 2005-06, 43 per cent of all offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been used were cleared up, compared with the 38 per cent cleared up in 2004-05. ( Table 11)
- The Strathclyde police force area, which contains 43 per cent of the Scottish population, accounted for 44 per cent of all offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been used in 2005-06. More specifically, 7 of the 8 homicides, 89 per cent of attempted murders, 75 per cent of serious assaults, and 85 per cent of recorded robberies, but only 36 per cent of minor assaults and 26 per cent of vandalism offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been used took place in Strathclyde. ( Table 13)
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