Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many firearms offences committed in the UK involved the use of (a) .50 calibre bolt-action rifles, (b) .22lr calibre semi-automatic rifles and (c) semi-automatic shotguns in each of the last three years.

The Home Office holds information on the number of offences involving a firearm recorded by the police in England and Wales but does not hold information on the calibre of the weapons used in these offences.

Information on the number of offences involving a firearm by type of weapon is published on a quarterly basis in the Office for National Statistics ‘Crime in England and Wales’ bulletin (Table 8), available here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesbulletintables