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| Gun plans dismissed as 'feeble' | Gun plans dismissed as 'feeble' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Conservatives have criticised the government's plans to tackle gun crime as "feeble." | |
| Nick Herbert, the Tory spokesman on justice, dismissed proposals for "drop-off zones" where people can hand in guns or offer tip-offs anonymously. | Nick Herbert, the Tory spokesman on justice, dismissed proposals for "drop-off zones" where people can hand in guns or offer tip-offs anonymously. |
| He told the BBC the government "seems paralysed in the wake of real concern about the increase in violence". | He told the BBC the government "seems paralysed in the wake of real concern about the increase in violence". |
| But Justice Secretary Jack Straw insisted the government's policies on gun crime were working. | But Justice Secretary Jack Straw insisted the government's policies on gun crime were working. |
| He told BBC News 24: "We are concerned that the number of gun-related incidents have gone up, but it has now started to fall as a result of measures introduced by my predecessors over the past three to four years. | |
| But Mr Herbert said: "Frankly, I think it is a feeble response. Amnesties have a place. They had a place in trying to deal with knife crime before and knife crime has doubled in the last couple of years." | But Mr Herbert said: "Frankly, I think it is a feeble response. Amnesties have a place. They had a place in trying to deal with knife crime before and knife crime has doubled in the last couple of years." |
| The government's proposals follow the fatal shooting of Rhys Jones, 11, on Wednesday. | The government's proposals follow the fatal shooting of Rhys Jones, 11, on Wednesday. |
| 'Beyond politics' | |
| Mr Straw stressed that gun crime could not be dealt with by the government and police alone, and he urged anyone on Merseyside with information about Rhys's murder to come forward. | |
| "I think that everybody has accepted now this is an issue beyond politics", he said. | |
| "Of course government ministers have their prime responsibilities to deal with this, but it also runs into much wider responsibilities of the communities and the families." | |
| A war of statistics has broken out in the debate about Britain's gun and gang culture, which was reignited by Rhys Jones's murder. | |
| See where young victims were killed across England | |
| The Tories say that, while overall gun crime is down, the number of deaths and injuries from gun attacks in England and Wales has risen from 864 in 1998-99 to 3,821 last year. | |
| "It is clear from the Home Office's own figures that the number of deaths and injuries from gun crime has quadrupled under this government," said Mr Herbert. | |
| "They simply don't seem to know what to do." | |
| The "drop-off zone" proposals were announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Saturday. | |
| Not an amnesty | |
| In an interview in Sunday's News of the World, Ms Smith said people who knew where firearms were hidden or were holding them for a relative or friend needed to be able to come forward without revealing their identity and without necessarily contacting the police directly. | |
| "The most suitable place may not be a local police station," she said. | |
| "It may be a voluntary organisation that can work with the police and others where family members can go to and feel confident they can get that gun off the streets or out of their family home." | |
| A Home Office spokesman said trials would run in areas where gun crime was worst. The government is in talks with the police about exactly where and when these would take place. | |
| About half of all gun crime takes place in the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and London, he said. | |
| The Home Office stressed the scheme would not be an amnesty for illegal weapons, rather an attempt to get them off the streets. | |
| Anyone wishing to inform on people anonymously can already do so via Crimestoppers. | |
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