Scots urged to surrender firearms and ammunition to police as campaign launched

Firearms and ammunition can be surrendered at police stations across Scotland for two weeks as part of a UK-wide firearms surrender campaign to prevent them getting into the hands of criminals.

From Thursday, May 12 until Sunday, May 29, people in possession of firearms and ammunition, for which they do not hold a valid certificate, will be able to surrender these to police.

In addition to being able to hand in firearms and ammunition, the public will be able to hand over replica firearms, air weapons, BB guns, imitation firearms, component parts and other ballistic items.

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.”

Cabinet secretary for justice and veterans Keith Brown 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.”

The public can hand firearms and weapons to any police station, however, they are asked where possible to attend at designated locations across Scotland.

The police stations are:

Edinburgh Division: St Leonards
Fife Division: Levenmouth, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline
Forth Valley Division: Stirling, Randolphfield, Falkirk
Lothians and Scottish Borders: Dalkeith, Galashiels, Haddington, Livingstone
North: Highland and Islands Division, Burnett Road, Dingwall, Fort William, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Nairn, Portree, Stornoway, Wick
North East Division: Banchory, Elgin, Ellon, Inverurie, Kittybrewster, Mintlaw, Stonehaven
Tayside Division: Dundee, Forfar, Perth
West Argyll and West Dumbartonshire Division: Campbeltown, Clydebank, Dumbarton, Dunoon, Islay, Lochilphead, Oban, Rothesay
Ayrshire Division: Ayr, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Lamlash
Dumfries and Galloway Division: Annan, Castle Douglas, Dumfries HQ, Lockerbie, Loreburn, Dumfries, Newton Stewart, Stranraer, Sanquhar
Greater Glasgow Division: Aitkenhead Road, Govan, Kirkintilloch, London Road
Lanarkshire Division: Hamilton, Motherwell
Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Division: Greenock, Paisley