Surrey locals are being invited to surrender firearms over a two week period where those surrendering firearms will not be prosecuted for offences of possessing them illegally.
From Monday 10 November until Friday 21 November Surrey and Sussex Police are inviting members of the public to surrender unwanted firearms and ammunition so they can be disposed of safely.
The surrender is part of a nationwide operation being co-ordinated by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), which analyses guns and ballistic material for police forces across the UK.
New legislation that came into effect on July 14 increased the maximum jail term for illegal gun possession from 10 years to life.
This now includes anyone who is storing a weapon for someone else. It also includes antique firearms due to the fact that obsolete weapons can be made viable by criminals with ballistics knowledge.
Surrendering unwanted or unlicensed weapons avoids the risk of them becoming involved in criminality and means that people can dispose of firearms and ammunition in a safe place.
During the two week period, those surrendering firearms will not be prosecuted for offences of possessing them illegally.
However each weapon may be analysed to determine if it has been used in crime and, if it has, it will be investigated.
Chief Superintendent Paul Morrison, the head of operations command across Surrey and Sussex Police, said: "Gun crime in the UK has continued to fall year on year for the last ten years but we are not complacent.
"People may have firearms or ammunition that belong to other people, who have inherited them or who might have items they have overlooked or forgotten.
"We would encourage people to check their attics, sheds and cupboards and hand weapons in."
Find out where to surrender firearms here
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