New Clause 7 - Firearms: international co-operation and general duty of the Secretary of State
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Ms Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (reducing organised and international crime, anti drugs co-ordination and international and European issues), Home Office; Don Valley, Labour)
As the hon. Gentleman has outlined, all Committee members, and all our parties, take the issue of firearms seriously—as I think does the whole country. How they are used, even by people who have licences, and whether they are lawfully imported are important to us all. He will be fully aware that we already have some of the toughest gun controls in the world, because of the actions of this Government since they were elected in 1997. We have been working with the police to ensure good security of legally held weapons to prevent them being stolen, and we are looking at the need to establish stricter controls on deactivation standards.
We are working very closely with our EU partners and with the various United Nations bodies. We are heavily engaged in ensuring that Governments and law enforcement agencies work together as closely as
possible, within our varying systems, so that any gaps are not exploited by those who organise and profit from criminal businesses. It is essential to tackle those problems as far upstream as possible, which is why the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, the Department for International Development and other agencies are assisting Governments and law enforcement agencies in countries that are a source of the organised crime problems in this country.
The National Crime Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service play a key role in the intelligence-led approach to gun crime, in London as elsewhere. NCIS runs a national firearms-tracing service that provides intelligence on the source and use of guns used in crime. That will be complemented by a new, national, computerised forensic firearms intelligence database, set up with £1.4 million funding from the Home Office.
We have recently made changes to firearms legislation in the Criminal Justice and Anti-social Behaviour Bills. Some Members on this Committee who have been involved with those Bills will be aware of the firearms measures in them, which I shall briefly outline. The Criminal Justice Bill includes a provision to introduce a five-year minimum sentence for the illegal possession of prohibited weapons. The Anti-social Behaviour Bill will make it an offence to possess an air weapon or an imitation firearm in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. It includes measures to ban the sale, manufacture and import of firearms using self-contained air cartridge systems, such as Brocock, and to license those already held.
In short, the Government are wholly committed to tackling gun crime, and working internationally in support of that aim. That is why, despite its good intent, the new clause is unnecessary. It does not sit comfortably in the body of the Bill. We are committed, as is publicly known, to reviewing firearms legislation. The phraseology here might be more useful if there were to be new legislation. We all share concern about gun crime and the import of illegal weapons, and the Government are showing that they are very willing to tackle those issues head-on. The fact that we do not agree that this new clause should be added to the Bill in no way detracts from the good work that we have done to tackle problems in this field.