February 2025 Review

GCN is committed to preventing gun violence and we work to pursue that objective through changes to the legal system, public services and attitudes to guns. We collect and analyse data to provide all stakeholders with the evidence needed to initiate change.

GCN collects data on gun incidents and related sentences, inquests and investigations in England, Scotland, and Wales, as reported in the British media. We know our information is incomplete, though we believe nearly all the most serious crimes are included.

This Review refers to incidents that occurred during February 2025 and to earlier incidents for which further information has now been reported, often as a result of a court case or inquest. Please note that the data used for the Figures is derived solely from incidents that occurred, or first came to our attention, in February 2025.

Figure 1: February 2025 incident reports by type

Gun Deaths

We monitor FATAL GUN INCIDENTS in Great Britain and compile lists that summarise the available information. Our summaries for 2017 to 2024 are available at https://gun-control-network.org/news-analysis/

We are aware of two reports concerning gun deaths in February 2025:

• A woman died at the scene after being shot by a man she knew outside a pub in Knockholt, Kent. Police officers recovered a handgun from a car linked to the suspect, left by a bridge near Dartford. It is believed that the man entered the River Thames from the bridge, but his body has not yet been found.

• A teenage male who was found seriously injured in the garden of a property in Wigan, Greater Manchester, died from a gunshot wound to the head. A police statement said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

Inquests

We are aware of three reports of inquests in February 2025 relating to four gun deaths:

• An inquest has concluded that a man, shot by armed police officers in October 2022, was lawfully killed. The man entered a police station in Derby, Derbyshire, before brandishing a knife and causing damage. After attempts to negotiate with him failed and a Taser proved ineffective due to the thickness of his clothes, a police officer shot the man in the abdomen as he ran towards him with a knife. An investigation conducted by the Independent Office for Police Conduct in 2023, the findings of which were released after the inquest, concluded that the officer’s use of force was “appropriate in the circumstances”.

• A coroner at the inquest into the deaths of a married couple in December 2023 has concluded that the man unlawfully killed his wife by shooting her twice in the head and once in the chest with a legally-owned rifle. He went on to shoot himself in the head with the same weapon. The man and woman were declared dead by a paramedic at their farm in Saddington, Leicestershire. The inquest heard that the couple’s relationship had been strained “for some years” and that it had “broken down irretrievably” in the months before their deaths.

• An inquest jury has concluded that a man, shot dead by a police officer in Swindon, Wiltshire in November 2020, was lawfully killed. Armed police officers responded after the man was seen with a firearm during a “drunken row” with his neighbour. The man was shot in the chest after he pointed an air rifle at an officer and failed to respond to instructions to put the weapon down. The officer who fired the shot described the man’s weapon as a “long-barrelled rifle with a scope”, which looked like a hunting rifle, and told the court, “I was terrified, the most scared I’ve been in my career to date. I thought I was going to die”. The man died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest from a police-issue pistol. An earlier investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct found the firearms officer’s use of force during the incident was appropriate in the circumstances. 

Armed Domestic Violence and/or Victim Known to Perpetrator 

We are aware of seven reports in February 2025 that we believe to relate to the above:

• A 53-year-old man has been handed a suspended fourteen-month prison term with 25 sessions of rehabilitation activity for possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. In November 2024, the man stopped by the back door of a neighbour’s property in Denbigh, Denbighshire and fired a starting pistol at the owner, who was known to him. The victim alerted police and officers found the firearm, along with a number of cap guns, at the man’s home. The court heard that the man, who could become aggressive when drinking or not taking his medication, had intended to “shock and scare” the victim. The judge imposed an exclusion zone to keep him away from his victim for twelve months.

• See Inquest above — A coroner concluded that a man had unlawfully killed his wife in Leicestershire with a legally-owned rifle before taking his own life with the weapon.

• See Deaths above — A woman died at the scene after being shot outside a pub in Kent by a man she knew.

• A 29-year-old man has been handed a 20-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to complete fifteen days’ rehabilitation and a probation service Building Better Relationships programme after admitting possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, assault and causing criminal damage. In March 2024, he slapped his partner’s face after she told him she wanted to end their relationship. He went on to point a BB gun at her in the kitchen of their home in Hull, East Yorkshire, before firing a pellet through the glass door of a washing machine. The woman’s son and one of her daughters was in the room at the time. Police were alerted and officers seized the weapon, officially classed as a firearm because it was so powerful. The man was given a five-year restraining order and the gun is to be forfeited.

• A 53-year-old woman has been handed an eighteen-month community order with fifteen rehabilitation activity requirement days after admitting possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear, common assault and criminal damage. In April 2024, following a family dispute, she “bombarded” her mother and her mother’s partner with “aggressive and threatening phone calls”. Later the same day, she walked up and down the couple’s street in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, carrying a BB gun. She then threw the weapon, shattering a neighbour’s window. Shortly afterwards, she banged and kicked at the door of her mother’s house, making threats. When her mother opened the door, she put her hands around her neck and caused injuries to her face. Police officers later recovered the gun from the neighbour’s garden and the suspect was arrested a few days later.

• A 64-year-old man has been jailed for five years after admitting possession of a firearm. In August 2024, armed police officers responded to a report of a “heated family argument” on a street in Dudley, West Midlands, during which the man threatened a woman with a gun. When he was arrested shortly afterwards, the man had two bullets in his pocket, while the gun used was recovered from his car.

• A 64-year-old man has been jailed for five years after admitting possession of a firearm. In August 2024, following a family row about his wife’s ashes, the man threatened his granddaughter with a handgun at a pub in Dudley, West Midlands. When armed police arrested him soon afterwards, they recovered the gun, two bullets, a pickaxe handle and two Tasers. The court heard that the man claimed to have bought the gun for protection after losing money in a robbery.

Licensed/Former Licensed Owners/Dealers/Legal Guns and Ammunition, and Stolen Guns and Ammunition

We are aware of at least five reports in February 2025 that we believe to relate to the above:

• See Inquests above — A man shot by police officers in Derbyshire in October 2022 was lawfully killed.

• See Inquests and Armed Domestic Violence and/or Victim Known to Perpetrator above — A coroner concluded that a man had unlawfully killed his wife in Leicestershire with a legally owned rifle, before taking his own life with the weapon.

• See Inquests above — A man shot by police officers in Wiltshire in November 2020, while in possession of an air rifle, was lawfully killed.

• A 31-year-old man has been handed a four-month prison term after pleading guilty to possession of an imitation firearm. In September 2024, the man called police from a cemetery in Plumstead, East London and told them he was armed with a gun. Responding armed officers saw the man holding a weapon to his head, threatening to kill himself if his ex-partner was not brought to him. Following a six-hour standoff, during which he drank vodka, used nitrous oxide and raised the gun towards the officers, he was brought to the ground by a rubber baton round to his torso. He was also tasered before being taken to hospital. He later told officers that he was suicidal and had hoped they would shoot him.

• A 63-year-old firearms licence holder has been handed a suspended one-year prison term, fined £1187 and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm. In March 2023, police officers recovered a revolver, grenade launchers and explosive powder from the man’s home in Caldicot, Monmouthshire. The man, who uses imitation or replica weapons as part of his work for a group that educates people on the Vietnam War, claimed that a member of the organisation had asked him to “get rid of” the banned firearm in 2020 and that he had forgotten he had it in his possession. The revolver, which was inoperable, was found in his unlocked garden shed.

We are aware of at least two reports in February 2025 involving the use of a police Taser, including:

• A 25-year-old man has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to modifying an imitation firearm, impersonating a police officer, assault of an emergency worker and six counts of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. In June 2024, the man, dressed in a fake police uniform, pointed what looked like a handgun at a person in a pub car park inBraunstone, Leicestershire. When armed police officers responded, he fired shots at them. Recognising the weapon as imitation, the officers used a Taser to detain him. Police officers subsequently found a second firearm, a police-style uniform and handcuffs at an address linked to the man, while two cars connected to him contained sirens and blue light equipment.

• Police officer tasered a man in order to safely detain him after receiving a report of an injured male with a knife in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The man was treated in hospital following the incident.

Animal Death and Injury

We are aware of at least four reports in February 2025 of animal cruelty and/or death involving a gun:

• Armed police officers were deployed after fox hounds were shot at during a hunt in Great Barrow, Cheshire. One dog was killed and another injured. A man has since been arrested on suspicion of using a gun to cause fear of violence.

• A cat required surgery to remove a pellet after being shot in the hip with an air rifle in Wooler, Northumberland. Police have been informed.

• Police appealed for information after a red kite was shot dead in Glenbuckat, Aberdeenshire. The bird’s body was found by a member of the public and recovered with assistance from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. A police spokesperson said, “Red kites are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and it is illegal to kill any protected species.”

• A cat has been put to sleep after being shot with an air rifle in Leavening, North Yorkshire. Police have appealed for information.

Imitation, Airsoft, airguns and BB guns do not currently require a licence in England or Wales. These guns are responsible for many gun injuries to both humans and animals.

N.B. Since January 2017, airgun owners in Scotland have been required to have a licence, and airgun crime in Scotland has decreased by one third.

Gun Control Network, The RSPCA, Cats Protection, other organisations and individuals are calling for similar legislation in England and Wales after 300,000+ members of the public petitioned in favour of airgun licensing.

The previous Government’s Response to a further Consultation, sent predominantly to shooting organisations but not to women’s organisations or those supporting victims of domestic violence, concluded not to license airguns in England and Wales.

Border Force and National Crime Agency

We are aware of at least three reports in February 2025 relating to the above:

• A 37-year-old man has been handed a prison term of three years and five months after admitting conspiracy to fraudulently evade a prohibition and attempted possession of a prohibited weapon. In 2021, Border Force officials intercepted a parcel from the US containing components to assemble a semi-automatic pistol. After removing the weapon parts, a covert listening device was inserted into the parcel before it was sent to the intended address in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The man was recorded collecting the delivery and heard swearing repeatedly when he discovered the contents were missing. Police officers later recovered a diary that noted the value of a pistol from the man’s home.

• A 40-year-old man from Swindon, Wiltshire has been fined £300 and ordered to pay costs after pleading guilty to importing prohibited or restricted goods. The man ordered a prohibited Airsoft gun from Poland as a gift for his son. The weapon, which resembled an assault rifle, was intercepted by Border Force officials. The man admitted ordering the gun, saying that he didn’t understand how the website could sell the item if it was an offence to import it.

• A woman has been charged with the importation of firearm, ammunition and Class A drugs after personnel at the Port of Dover, Kent discovered 5kg of heroin, 300 rounds of ammunition and thirteen firearms, including a submachine gun and pistols, in a “custom-built hide” in the footwell of a vehicle arriving from France. The weapons will be tested for viability. A spokesperson from the National Crime Agency said, “This is a significant seizure of deadly firearms that were destined for the UK criminal marketplace. Our investigation to track down the organised criminals responsible for this attempted importation continues at pace. Stopping the availability of firearms to UK-based criminals is a top priority for the NCA and we work closely with domestic and international partners to do this.”

Sentences and Convictions

We are aware of at least 30 reports in February 2025 of sentences and convictions for gun crime, including:

• Five men involved in the illegal selling of firearms and ammunition across the UK have received prison terms totalling more than 62 years: a 28-year-old man received fifteen years and nine months; a 29-year-old, a 53-year-old and a 49-year-old each received twelve years; and a 42-year-old man was sentenced to ten years and nine months. Police began investigating the group in November 2023 after 83 guns were seized from another gang. Phone evidence revealed that the 28-year-old was the group’s ringleader, while another stored the weapons until they were distributed by the three others, who acted as couriers, to other gangs and drug dealers. Detectives discovered 34 firearms and 340 rounds of ammunition at the home of one of the men in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, as well as one firearm and seven rounds of ammunition in a car belonging to another of them. All five men were arrested in two days of co-ordinated action, with the ringleader detained at Heathrow airport as he tried to flee the country for Barbados.

• A 23-year-old man has been jailed for ten-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to possession of ammunition, manufacturing firearms and two counts of possession of a firearm. In June 2024, police officers arrested him on suspicion of conspiracy to murder after a man was shot in Dagenham, East London. Officers subsequently searched his home nearby and found a firearms conversion workshop in the back garden. Two converted handguns, ammunition and equipment to convert guns were recovered at the scene. An investigation revealed that the suspect had been converting blank guns, including Turkish-manufactured top-venting blank firers, into potentially lethal firearms. He was not charged for the shooting.

• A 20-year-old man has been jailed for fourteen years, with an extra five years to be served on licence, after being found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. His 20-year-old co-defendant received seven-and-a-half years after admitting two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. In March 2024, shots were fired on a street in New Ferry, while, two months later, a witness reported seeing two men on an electric bike in Tranmere, Merseyside, one of whom was holding a weapon that looked like a pistol. The defendants were arrested shortly afterwards.

• Five gang members who converted blank-firing pistols into lethal guns have been jailed for a total of 68 years for conspiracy to convert and supply firearms. An investigation starting in 2020 found that four of the men bought 42 blank-firing pistols and blank-round ammunition from UK retailers including in Bury, Greater Manchester and in Huddersfield. Police officers observed two of the men visiting a third man’s home and saw an associate collect a rucksack from the property, later found to contain two converted pistols and 20 rounds of converted blank-firing ammunition. One of the men was arrested when his car was stopped, with officers recovering two more converted pistols and another 20 rounds of converted ammunition from the vehicle. More blank-firing pistols, ammunition and gun components in the process of being converted were seized from the defendants’ addresses.

• A 20-year-old man has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent. In August 2024, the man pointed a BB gun at a staff member who tried to stop him stealing a crate of beer from a shop in Bournemouth, The worker later told police he hadn’t known whether the gun was real and had feared for his life. The court heard that the man had been diagnosed with ADHD and other mental health issues that impacted his “rashness, impulsivity and immaturity”.

• Three men have been jailed for life after being found guilty of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. In July 2024, one of the men fatally shot a man standing in the garden of his partner’s home in Kirkby, Merseyside. He fired four shots as he rode past the garden, three of which hit the victim, who died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest. The two other men were following in a car. Telephone records revealed that all three men had been in contact before the murder, switching off their phones after the shooting. DNA belonging to one of the suspects was recovered from a bullet casing found at the scene. A motive for the attack has not been discovered.

• Four teenagers have been jailed for their involvement in an attempted shooting. In July 2024 the boys, two of whom cannot be named for legal reasons, armed themselves with a converted blank-firing pistol and machetes before chasing a male youth in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The victim escaped after a bullet lodged in the barrel of the gun when it was fired at him. After admitting possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, the two older boys were jailed for seven years and two months, while a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old received seven years, five months and four years, nine months, respectively. The 17-year-old was captured on CCTV holding the gun.

• A 23-year-old man has been jailed for four years after being convicted of possessing a prohibited firearm and holding it without a lawful certificate, possessing ammunition and being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine. In January 2022, a council employee found a converted blank-firing pistol and nineteen cartridges in a cemetery in Culross, Fife. The man’s DNA was recovered from the trigger grip of the weapon. When apprehended, the man was found with £1,000 worth of cocaine and heroin. The court heard that he had shown the gun, described by the Prosecution as lethal, to a woman and told her he had it in case someone owned him money.

Many incidents involve the use of airguns*, Airsoft, imitation and BB guns, which do not require a licence and may not contain ammunition but are used by perpetrators to capitalise on the fear of victims who believe they are about to be shot. Traumatised victims are often unable to identify the weapons used. It is extremely difficult to distinguish between imitation and live-firing guns unless the weapons are fired and/or recovered, and, for this reason, guns involved in incidents frequently remain unidentified. NOTE: Inquest above — A police firearms officer fatally shot a man brandishing an airgun.

Shotguns and rifles can be legally held by those granted a licence. Ultimately, legally-obtained guns in every country tend to find their way into the wrong hands, whether through theft, corrupt gun dealers, and/or the failure of the licensing procedure to identify legal gun owners who pose a risk to themselves and/or others.

Please see the endnote for further explanation of gun types and current legal status.

Figure 2: February 2025 Weapon types recorded in firearm incidents

Notes

See Gun incidents in Great Britain page for details of incidents involving these gun types.

Guns that do not require a licence: Airguns* (so-called ‘low-powered’); Airsoft; ball-bearing; imitation; paintball; antique; deactivated; bolt guns** and starting pistols/blank firers. These guns are cheap, accessible and available to buy on impulse. Moreover, lack of secure storage requirements enables theft. Many are capable of being converted into more powerful weapons. Guns deactivated to early specifications are capable of reactivation and recent, more rigorous specifications are not retrospective.

There is no legal definition of ‘antique’ and, although possession of antique guns is prohibited to those having served or received a criminal sentence, it is unclear how this is administered during sales and transfers.

Airsoft guns are exempt from the terms of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 and are ‘self-regulated’ by the Airsoft industry. The Home Office fails to collect data on the proliferation of Airsoft skirmishing sites.

• *From January 2017 air gun owners in Scotland have required a licence.
• ** A ‘slaughter licence’ is required for a bolt gun.

Guns that require a licence: Airguns in Scotland; shotguns; rifles; police firearms/ Tasers.

Gun Control Network and others welcome the proposed increase in Firearms Licence fees to ‘Full Cost Recovery’ in the interests of public safety. The under-resourced licensing procedure has consistently failed to protect the public from licensed gun-owning perpetrators, and women are particularly at risk of domestic violence involving licensed gun owners. NOTE: Inquest above — A licensed gun owner fatally shot his wife before taking his own life with the weapon. The inadequate licensing procedure has been subsidised by taxpayers to the tune of £20+ million a year. Any number of shotguns can be held on one certificate, which lasts for five years.

The Home Office continues to fail to publish data regarding the number of Licensed Gun Owners/Dealers/Legal Guns and Ammunition involved in non-fatal crime. Similarly, the status of guns used in suicides is not necessarily recorded at Inquests.

Guns that are prohibited: Handguns (revolvers, pistols etc.); Olympic starting pistols; Tasers; submachine guns; and ‘other’ weapons (pepper spray/CS Gas; home-made guns and explosive devices). Certain handguns are exempt from prohibition. Handgun, Taser and pepper spray use is authorised for police, but there are concerns regarding fatalities and Taser training.

Imitation/Airsoft guns are available without background checks. Crimes reported in the media as involving handguns are likely to involve imitations, airsoft, air pistols or other guns that look like handguns, resulting in misleadingly-inflated reports of handgun crime.