Police are asking Londoners to hand in firearms and imitation weapons during a two-week firearms surrender campaign, launched by the Metropolitan Police Service this Monday, 23 November.
The surrender will run between 07:00 hours on 23 November and 23:00 hours on Sunday, 6 December and will give Londoners the opportunity to safely dispose of firearms, imitation weapons or ammunition, by taking them to a local 24-hour police station and handing them in.
During this two-week period, people surrendering firearms may not face prosecution for illegal possession and can remain anonymous. Each live weapon handed in will be assessed by firearms officers, with some weapons being forensically checked for evidence.
This year the campaign will also focus on imitation weapons, BB guns and air weapons, and the potential for these items to be mistaken for genuine weapons. A social media campaign will highlight how realistic imitation firearms can appear – even to the highly-trained eye of a firearms officer – and the dangers faced by anyone carrying such an item in an inappropriate setting. This will include a number of tweets beginning Monday 23 November with images of guns giving people #secondstodecide whether the guns posted are real or fake.