Falkirk residents urged to give up their firearms

Working in conjunction with the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), Police Scotland launched a national firearms surrender campaign on May 12.

The campaign gives members of the public the opportunity to hand in any unwanted or illegal firearms and ammunition to designated police stations across Scotland.

People can hand in firearms anonymously and will not face prosecution at the point of surrendering a firearm or ammunition up until Sunday, May 29.

Assistant chief constable Alan Speirs said: “The purpose of the firearms surrender campaign is to remove firearms from criminal availability and therefore reduce the risk of harm to the public and our communities.

“People will be able to surrender unlicensed weapons and ammunition to a number of dedicated police stations throughout Scotland and I would encourage people to do so.”

Known as Operation Aztec, the two-week surrender is taking place across the UK as local forces work together with NABIS – a key component in the UK’s strategy to reduce firearms criminality.

While many firearms are held in innocence and ignorance of their illegality or are overlooked and forgotten in people’s homes, others are acquired and distributed by criminal networks to harm, threaten and intimidate their local communities.

The surrender initiative gives people the chance to dispose of firearms or ammunition by simply taking them to a local police station and handing them over without fear of prosecution.

Keith Brown, Scottish cabinet secretary for justice, said: “I would encourage anyone in possession of an unneeded or unlicensed firearm or air weapon to safely hand it

over to police at one of their designated police stations.

“Firearm offences remain at historically low levels in Scotland, but by removing unwanted weapons this important campaign by Police Scotland will help keep our communities safe and prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands.”

People in the Forth Valley area can hand in their firearms at Falkirk Police Station in West Bridge Street and Stirling Police Station in Randolphfield.