Slight rise in firearms certificates in Tayside and Fife
Firearms and shotgun certificates in Tayside and Fife recorded a slight increase last year but the trend over the last decade remains firmly downwards, new figures from the Scottish Government have revealed.
- By Bruce Robbins
- Published in the Courier : 15.11.10
- Published online : 15.11.10 @ 06.44am
The rises in both categories in the two regions was in the order of 1-2% but the Firearms Certificates Statistics also show the reductions since 1999 have been much larger.
In Tayside, the number of certificates held increased from 9008 in 2008 to 9115 last year, a rise of 1.18%.
Since 1999, however, certificate numbers have fallen from 10,859 to their present level, a drop of just over 16%.
Fife recorded a 1.41% increase in certificates last year from 3804 to 3858.
However, when the 2009 figure is compared with the 5083 that were held in the region in 1999, the fall is just over 24%.
Although certificate numbers have been falling, the number of legally-held guns in Scotland has been on the rise.
The findings, published by the government's chief statistician, reveal that the number of firearms held on certificate increased by 2% between 2008 and 2009 for a total of 70,856—the highest level recorded in the last 10 years.
The number of shotguns on certificate was 137,768, a decrease of 0.1% compared to 2008, but an increase of 11% over the last decade.
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