Police have warned over the number of guns in Scotland with figures revealing that there are over 277,000 guns in Scotland with at least 90,000 firearms deactivated.

Worryingly, according to a report in a national newspaper, deactivated guns are available on the internet alongside tutorials to reactivate the guns. Police intelligence traced 107,000 shotguns and 80,000 firearms which were legally owned by 68,000 licence-holders.However, there was a warning that so many weapons were available on the black market and in former conflict zones.

Police Clampdown on Illegal Weapons

Police have attempted to try and clamp down on the number of weapons and illegal ammunition in Scotland. Since 2008, all firearms incidents have been logged on the UK National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) database.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Cuddihy said: “It is easy to reactivate a deactivated weapon and bang – you’re dead.”

 “You can buy a bullet for less than £1. If you then take that bullet and put it on the black market, it will trade as a commodity for £10.

“If you stick it into a gun, we could be looking at a £1.2million murder investigation. Every bullet we recover protects a life.”

He added: “If an individual uses a weapon ordinarily, they will seek to destroy it. But if it’s a rare commodity, they will want to get it back so it can be used again.

“NABIS will tell us, for example, ‘That’s the third time that gun was used. It was used in Glasgow, and it was used in Manchester.’

“You look at the network of those groups and try to identify the common denominator.”

A Royal Commission is examining the UK’s firearm laws to try and clamp down on what could be a growing problem in the UK. 

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