York guns to be melted down

Overall, 17 handguns, four rifles, 22 shotguns, 16 air rifles, 11 air pistols, 27 imitation firearms, and 1,682 assorted rounds of ammunition were handed in.

The national amnesty ended at midnight last night.

At Selby, 27 rifles and pistols were handed in during the amnesty.

They ranged from double-barrel 12-bores and 4.10s to a Colt automatic pistol and a Browning 2.2 pistol complete with magazine.

All the guns from York and Selby will be sent to North Yorkshire Police headquarters, at Newby Wiske, before being transported to a South Yorkshire company, where they will be melted down and recycled for other uses.

Selby-based Sergeant Dave Reay said: "I'm not that surprised by the response because we just don't know how many guns are out there.

"Several of the shotguns were found in attics or cupboards during house clearances."

The amnesty was sanctioned by Home Secretary David Blunkett to tackle the growing problem of illegal firearms and gun crime.

During the first three weeks, more than 17,000 guns and almost 500,000 rounds of ammunition have been handed in nationwide.

During the same period, North Yorkshire Police has taken in more than 160 guns and over 4,000 rounds of ammunition.

Army bomb disposal experts were called to two North Yorkshire police stations after hand grenades were handed in by members of the public on the last day of the amnesty.

Specialists from the Royal Logistics Corp Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, based at Catterick, dealt with the devices at Malton and Leyburn police stations on the last day of the gun amnesty.

A rusty Second World War grenade, which was handed in at Leyburn last night, was taken away by the team this morning.

Another grenade, which was surrendered at Malton police station yesterday morning, was isolated in the external cycle store in the evacuated back yard until bomb disposal experts arrived and took it away. It was found to have been emptied of explosive.

Updated: 15:19 Thursday, May 01, 2003