Gun crime in Greater Manchester has fallen 60 per cent in the last 16 years

It comes amid a national rise in gun crime with nearly 10,000 offences involving firearms across England and Wales.

Greater Manchester Police recorded 424 crimes with a gun in 2018-2019, according to Home Office data.

Incidents included offences where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument or as a threat.

Offences with low-powered weapons such as BB guns and pepper spray are included in police figures, alongside shotguns, handguns and rifles. But with the data excludes air weapon crimes.

It means there were 15 firearms offences per 100,000 population in the city-region – above the national average of 11.

Nationally 9,787 gun offences were recorded last year – nearly 60 per cent lower than the level recorded at its peak in 2003-04, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is despite offences rising last year to the highest level nationally since 2010-11.

The Gun Control Network is campaigning for tighter controls on guns in the UK.

Peter Squires, member of the non-profit organisation, said: “Although gun crime has risen it is still nowhere near as high as it was 15 years ago. What police forces were doing between 2005 and 2015 was pushing gun crime down. Priorities have shifted towards knife crime and that’s why gun problems pop up in a cyclical way.

“There are more guns in Europe than there ever have been. Gun ownership is rising. Evidence shows that a lot of gun crime is gang-related.”

Mr Squires said police cuts have impacted the ability of forces to tackle the issue.

The ONS statistics said the rise in firearms crimes could be down to improvements in recording by police forces – with recorded stun gun and pepper spray cases seeing the biggest rises nationally.

The most common firearm crime category last year was violence against the person, followed by criminal damage and robbery.

Kit Malthouse, Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, said: “We are taking action to make our streets safer and protect people from violence. We are recruiting 20,000 new police officers, giving them more powers to take dangerous weapons off our streets and ensuring serious violent and sexual offenders spend longer behind bars.

“The Offensive Weapons Act introduces new laws which will give police extra powers to seize dangerous weapons.”