Gun-related crimes are on the rise, new data shows. Home Office figures have revealed that Sussex Police recorded 137 firearms offences from March 2023 to March this year. This is up by around 12 per cent from the previous period for 2022-23, when police recorded 123.
The picture in Sussex matches the national one, with nearly 400 more incidents reported in England and Wales in the past year - 6,447 in total. The data also revealed that gun crime disproportionately affects young people, with 46 per cent of victims aged between ten and 29. Meanwhile, one in 11 were ten to 14 years old.
READ MORE: Two men arrested over alleged seafront rape - police hunting for third man However, these kinds of offences remain lower than before the Covid pandemic, when, in March 2019 to 2020, numbers were at 183 in Sussex. The Gun Control Network, the first gun control organisation in the UK, is calling for the government to increase investment in youth centres to mitigate the impact on young people. It is also advocating for the ban of “military-style” airsoft weapons, as the figures show airsoft and ball bearing weapons were used in 88 per cent of offences involving imitation firearms last year.
Imitation firearm incidents are currently at a national high since 2005-2006, with 2,719 in the past year..
