Ministers must get tough on guns

12.00.00am GMT Thu 24th Apr 2008

Commenting on the Home Office recorded crime figures released today, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"Ministers must get tough on guns. We need more intelligence-led stop and search and greater police effort to win the trust of blighted communities, as that is the most effective way of pinpointing problems.

"It is crazy that there are nine times as many customs officials looking for smuggled cigarettes as contraband guns.

"There is a worrying divergence between crimes reported to the police and crime found in the British Crime Survey, a gap that is particularly acute with violent crime.

"The BCS shows violent crime to be stable at far too high a level, which may suggest that people are becoming discouraged in some areas from reporting even very serious offences to the police."