Newly released data has revealed that 166 new firearms certificates were granted across Wiltshire between April 2022 and March 2023.

This was the highest number since April 2019 to March 2020, but lower than the high of 286 reached in April 2010 to March 2011.

Only one new firearm certificate was refused, while seven were revoked.

In the latest figures, 448 new shotgun certificates were granted, with four new applications refused. One renewal application was refused while 1,788 were granted.

The numbers make Wiltshire the police force area with the 14th-largest number of new shotgun certificate applications in England and Wales, eclipsing Dorset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall and all of the North East.

There were also 19 shotgun certificates revoked, down from the figure of 26 the previous year. Wiltshire had the second-lowest number of shotgun certificate revocations among police forces in the South West, beat only by Dorset with 11 revocations.

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Wiltshire has 12,649 shotgun certificates covering a total of 32,633 shotguns, the third-highest number in the South West.

Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), said the figures "can be viewed two ways: the first is, reassuringly, in that there are attempts to assure that firearms in the UK are only held by those capable of using them legally. The second is a cause of concern, that the numbers are rising.

"The truth is that we, compared to many countries, are a remarkably safe nation for firearm deaths. Ultimately, we should be more concerned with knife crime than gun crime. In an imperfect world, our gun laws work."