GUN CRIME

The Facts. The Risks.

Gun crime in the UK remains relatively low compared to many countries, with strict firearms legislation suppressing lethal discharges. But it has not been eliminated — and in certain cities and communities, it remains a serious and concentrated threat.

The National Picture

Firearm offences in England and Wales are far below their mid-2000s peak, and the last two years have seen a sharp drop from a recent high. In the year ending March 2025, police recorded 5,103 non-air firearm offences — a 21% fall from the 6,449 recorded the previous year, and the lowest level since the year ending March 2015. The most recent year, ending March 2026, saw a slight rise to 5,151.

These figures do not include ordinary air rifles or air pistols.

A "firearm offence" does not only mean someone has been shot. It also includes cases where a gun (or a realistic fake gun) was carried, sold, or used to threaten someone — even if it was never fired.

Gun homicide remains rare. There were 32 homicides committed by shooting in the year ending March 2025, accounting for 6% of all homicides.

Where Are the Hotspots?

Gun crime in the UK is not evenly spread. It concentrates in specific urban areas, often linked to organised crime, the drugs trade, territorial disputes or personal feuds.

By volume, the Metropolitan Police recorded the largest number of non-air firearm offences in 2024/25 — 22% of the England and Wales total.

By rate, the picture changes. Bedfordshire recorded the highest rate at 18.0 offences per 100,000 population, followed by West Midlands Police at 15.3.

Armed policing follows a different map again. Measured per head of population, the highest rates of police firearms operations in the year ending March 2026 were in the West Midlands (70 per 100,000), Cleveland (56) and Dorset (45).

The two measures answer different questions. Offence rates show where gun crime is recorded. Deployment rates show where armed officers are sent — which reflects threat assessment and local policing model as much as offence levels.

The Law

What happens if you break the law? The UK's firearms legislation is clear and carries serious consequences. Possession of an illegal firearm carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years — and courts take these offences seriously.

In March 2026, Henri Nikolli — a drug dealer from Hertfordshire — was jailed for six years and three months after attempting to import a firearm from the United States. When arrested, officers found three functioning antique firearms modified to accept modern ammunition, live ammunition, knives, cannabis, drug dealing equipment, and a notebook detailing how to manufacture and adapt weapons. The case was investigated by the National Crime Agency and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The NCA's Senior Investigating Officer described Nikolli as a sophisticated criminal who had built an arsenal of dangerous weapons to support his drugs trade. The CPS noted that firearms, ammunition, and knives had become everyday commodities in his criminal operation — posing a direct danger to local communities.

Read the full NCA case report.

→ nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk

How Guns Get Into the UK

The Smuggling Routes

Illegal firearms do not appear from nowhere. They follow well-established criminal supply chains, and understanding how they enter the country explains why border security and international cooperation are so critical.

Converted blank-firing weapons

The most common type of firearm seized by law enforcement over the last two years has been blank-firing weapons — legally purchased in some countries but illegally converted in the UK to fire live ammunition. In March 2024, the NCA arrested five people involved in this activity and recovered ten firearms. A firearms amnesty in February 2025 allowed members of the public to surrender these devices without prosecution.

Hidden in vehicles and parcels

Firearms are often concealed in vehicles on Channel ferry and tunnel routes, and post and parcels remain a common method of importation. In one striking case, gun smuggler Yasir Khan hid 36 Glock pistol components inside a 1976 Datsun Sunny — concealed within the fuel tank, under the windscreen, and behind the engine block. He was sentenced to eight years at Birmingham Crown Court.

Imported from the United States

A handgun that costs a few hundred dollars in the United States can fetch thousands of pounds on UK streets — making transatlantic smuggling highly profitable for criminal networks. In one operation, pistols bought legally from an Atlanta gun store were smuggled inside Bluetooth speakers via Miami to England, where they were sold through an encrypted messaging app.

Organised crime networks

Albanian criminal networks are among the most significant organised crime groups operating in the UK, described by the Home Office as an "acute threat." These groups are what law enforcement calls poly-criminals — involved not only in drug smuggling and firearms trafficking but in violent serious organised crime across multiple sectors. In a major 2023 NCA-led crackdown targeting Western Balkan criminal networks, officers seized nearly 200,000 cannabis plants worth an estimated £130 million, recovered £636,000 in cash, 26 kilograms of cocaine, and 20 firearms — resulting in more than 900 arrests.

The dark web

While not the primary route, the dark web remains a marketplace for illegal firearms — particularly for individuals operating outside established criminal networks. Weapons bought online typically enter the UK through parcel post, as illustrated by the Nikolli case.

Military grade weapons

In March 2026, a woman was jailed for nine years after smuggling a haul of military grade weapons, ammunition, and Class A drugs into the UK — intercepted by Border Force working alongside the NCA. The NCA noted that automatic weapons such as Skorpion machine pistols have been linked to innocent bystanders being caught in crossfire in recent years — a reminder of the real human cost when these weapons reach criminal hands.

Imitation and Converted Weapons

A significant proportion of firearm offences in the UK involve imitation firearms or weapons that have been illegally converted to fire live ammunition. These are often easier to obtain than genuine lethal-purpose firearms and are frequently used in threats, robberies and gang-related incidents. While they may not always be capable of causing the same level of harm as a factory-made gun, they still create fear, escalate violence and are treated seriously under the law.

The Armed Police Response

The UK's approach to policing gun crime is deliberately restrained and intelligence-led.

Armed Response Vehicles

Most police forces maintain patrolling Armed Response Vehicles — specially equipped cars crewed by Authorised Firearms Officers trained to respond rapidly to firearms incidents.

In the year ending March 2026, there were 17,584 police firearms operations across England and Wales, an increase of 3% on the previous year. Of those, 93% involved an armed response vehicle as the first or only response — a proportion unchanged since 2023, and the highest since records began in 2009.

Armed policing is concentrated where demand is highest. The Metropolitan Police (2,673 operations) and West Midlands Police (2,120) together accounted for 27% of all operations in England and Wales.

Discharges are rare

The overwhelming majority of armed deployments end without a shot being fired.

Police discharged firearms at a person in 9 incidents in the year ending March 2026 — 0.1% of all firearms operations. That figure was 4 in the previous year, and 2 in the year ending March 2024. The highest number since comparable records began in 2009 was 13, in the year ending March 2019.

These numbers are small enough that year-on-year changes look dramatic in percentage terms. What stays consistent is that discharges occur in a fraction of one percent of deployments.

Specialist and Counter-Terrorist Officers

Beyond ARVs, forces deploy Specialist Firearms Officers for planned, intelligence-led raids — trained in dynamic entry, building searches, and high-risk operations. At the top of the tier sit Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers, the UK's most highly trained armed officers, supporting both counter-terrorism and serious organised crime operations alongside Regional Organised Crime Units.

There were 6,558 armed officers in England and Wales as at 31 March 2026, an increase of 3% on the year before, of whom 5,917 were operationally deployable — around 4% of all police officers.

What the picture shows

Firearm offences remain close to their lowest level in a decade, and armed deployment rarely results in a discharge. That reflects decades of strict legislation, intelligence-led policing and community cooperation.

It is not a finished job. The most recent year shows offences edging up and discharges rising from a low base. But the long-run direction is clear, and the restraint built into the model is real.

Why the UK Model is Different

British policing is based on the principle of policing by consent. This means the police rely on public trust and cooperation rather than routine armed presence. Most officers remain unarmed so that the use of force stays exceptional and carefully controlled. Firearms are issued only to specially trained officers when the threat justifies it. This approach helps maintain public confidence while still providing a rapid armed response when it is needed.

How the UK Compares Globally

The UK has one of the lowest rates of gun homicide in the developed world — around 0.05 per 100,000 people.

For context, using UN Office on Drugs and Crime figures for 2023:

United States: 4.4 per 100,000 — roughly 90 times the UK rate
Canada: 0.7 — around 14 times higher
Italy: 0.2, Australia and Spain: 0.1 — low, but still two to four times the UK
Japan: lower still
Iceland: recorded no firearm homicides at all in 2023

These comparisons use different sources and years, and the international figures cover the whole UK rather than England and Wales alone. They show scale, not precision.

Researchers widely credit the UK's strict firearms laws — tightened after Hungerford in 1987 and Dunblane in 1996 — as a significant factor in keeping rates this low. Serious problems remain in certain urban areas, but the overall lethal risk from guns in the UK is far below that of many comparable countries.

What Should you do

If you see someone with a firearm, or you believe a firearm is being used or threatened:

Do not approach the person.
Move away to a safe place if you can.
Call 999 immediately.
Give the call handler as much accurate information as possible — location, description of the person, type of weapon if known, and direction of travel.
Stay on the line if it is safe to do so and follow the operator’s instructions.

Never attempt to intervene yourself. Armed officers are trained to deal with these situations.

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Gun Crime

The UK has made extraordinary progress in reducing gun crime through strict legislation and intelligent policing. But the work is never finished. Every firearm taken off the streets, every smuggling route disrupted, and every young person diverted away from gang life is a community made safer.

Kulturalism