MOST of North Yorkshire's gun owners handed in their weapons weeks before handguns became illegal at midnight on Saturday.

The ban on handguns was brought in by the Government after the shootings at Dunblane and makes it illegal to keep weapons of .22 calibre and above.

Sixteen children and their teacher were killed at the village school in Scotland and the second anniversary of their deaths falls this month.

Anyone found to be flouting the law will be prosecuted and faces a 10-year jail sentence but North Yorkshire Police say the response in the county has been excellent.

And they have praised shooters for abiding by the new legislation and responding to the police requests in a spirit of amicable co-operation

Mavis McDermott, manager of the firearms licensing department at county police headquarters said once it was clear the ban was to be brought in meetings were held to draw up a countywide plan of action.

Such was the success of the operation all of North Yorkshire's registered hand guns had been collected at the police armoury by the deadline.

In York, 40 .22 pistols were collected in an operation co-ordinated by Sgt Ian Raybould and PC Stephen Byrne, who said their owners had co-operated fully with the collection.

"Everybody wanted it over and done with," said PC Byrne.

"They knew it was inevitable and rather than hanging on until the last minute people accepted it was best to get it out of the way. "We were able to complete the task by February 16 and we would like to thank the public for all their help."

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