Guns, knives and a mace surrendered in Guernsey

But just two days into a gun and knife amnesty, the island’s force received 38 bladed items, a nunchaku, a flail mace, seven shotguns of various calibres, several pistols and BB guns as well as 607 pieces of ammunition.

In total, 69 weapons were handed in during the first 48 hours of the initiative.

As previously reported, at least 44 weapons have been handed in in Jersey.

Almost every police force in the British Isles is currently running a ‘firearms surrender’ under the banner of Operation Aztec, but the Guernsey force has extended the initiative to include knives.

Chief Inspector Phil Breban said: ‘Currently, there are 688 registered shotgun licence holders possessing 1,940 shotguns, and
350 firearms licence holders possessing 2,777 firearms.

‘Holders of antique weapons are not legally required to list them. However, we would encourage people to take advantage of our free weapons certificate scheme, listing what an owner possesses.

‘This enables us to understand, assess and mitigate as much risk as possible around legitimate ownership of these firearms.’

Guernsey has about 7.5 guns per 100 people, putting the island 76th out of 175 in the world rankings of licensed guns per capita – above Israel and Iran.

Jersey is placed 63rd, with 9.2 guns per 100 people.

Both islands are above the UK, which has 6.6 per 100 people and is in 82nd place.

The last bladed-items amnesty took place during late August to early September 2007. A total of 482 knives and bladed items were handed in during that window.

These included several daggers, flick knives and even a samurai sword and machete.

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