Police on Teesside insist an airgun ban has been successful despite claims it has dramatically failed to rid the streets of the weapons. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) said latest Home Office figures show that attempts to remove unlicensed self-contained gas cartridge airguns from circulation have failed. The BASC, using manufacturers' figures, estimates there could be up to 68,000 airguns of this type still in circulation. Cleveland Police said 22 guns have been handed into officers for destruction while 24 gun owners have gained firearms licences on Teesside. Mike Eveleigh, senior firearms officer at BASC, said: "We have been warning the Home Office for some time that action was needed or this policy was destined to fail. "We urged them to extend the deadline to either hand-in or register these guns but they refused. "Now our worst fears have been confirmed - there are tens of thousands of these guns still around, and because of the heavy-handed approach of the Home Office they are likely to end up in the hands of criminals." In response to a parliamentary question, Home Office minister Caroline Flint said more than 1,500 of the guns have been surrendered to the police and less than 6,000 have been registered on firearm certificates. Self-contained gas cartridge airguns are low-powered airguns, using a system where an airgun pellet and the charge of gas or air which fires it are contained in a single cartridge. They can be converted to fire live rounds, and the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2004 made it illegal to possess one without a firearms certificate from April 30. Offenders can be jailed for at least five years. Mr Eveleigh said: "Before the Act they were available for sale over the counter with no registration. In themselves they are not dangerous, but there is a potential for conversion to fire live ammunition. So the Home Office has succeeded only in creating a huge stockpile of illegal guns. It is time this was put right." Cleveland Police said the main aim of the legislation was to prevent the weapons being sold. "The ban has achieved this," a force spokesman said. "It is impossible to gauge how many are still in circulation." He added: "There is no Government plan for an amnesty for these gun owners. They have already had three months to either surrender the guns or apply for a certificate. Those who fail to so do are committing an offence. "Those who genuinely didn't know about the ban can still come forward and surrender their guns. They are not being routinely prosecuted." Page 2: Teenager in gun scare is warned | 
