The Metropolitan Police Service has implemented a two-week #giveupyourgun campaign, which allows Londoners to safely dispose of firearms, imitation weapons and ammunition anonymously.
People are encouraged to surrender their weapons by taking them to a local 24-hour police station; the scheme will run until 11pm on December 6.
Those surrendering firearms may not face prosecution for illegal possession and are permitted to remain anonymous.
Firearm officers will assess every live weapon surrendered, and some will be checked for forensic evidence.
In a press release by Metropolitan Police Head of NABIS, Detective Chief Superintendent Joanne Chilton, said: “Gun surrenders provide an important opportunity for people to hand firearms over to police to prevent them falling into the hands of criminals and endangering the public.”
The two-week surrender period will run alongside a social media campaign to highlight how realistic imitation firearms can look, and how easily they can be mistaken for genuine weapons.
Photographs of guns will be tweeted so people can attempt to figure out if they are real or fake, they can be found under the hashtag #secondstodecide.
Last year’s two-week initiative saw 350 firearms and 12,300 rounds of ammunition handed into police.
