June 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 June 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 June 2025.

Figure 1: June 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 2025 are available at https://gun-control-network.org/news-analysis/

We are aware of three reports concerning gun deaths in June 2025:

• A man was treated by paramedics after being shot on a street in Croydon, South London. He died at the scene shortly afterwards. A man has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

• A man has been charged with murder, attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a prohibited weapon and dangerous driving after allegedly fatally shooting his cousin with a sawn-off shotgun. The man also reportedly shot and injured his brother. The victims had been standing outside in Hammersmith, West London when their attacker rode up on a motorbike and fired at point-blank range. The alleged offender was arrested following a high-speed chase during which he reportedly collided with pedestrians and cyclists before crashing. The court heard that the attacks were carried out after a row at a family gathering.

• Police officers and paramedics responded following reports of a shooting in Enfield, North London. A teenage male, found suffering gunshot injuries, died later in hospital. No arrests have yet been reported.

Inquests

We are not aware of any reports of inquests in June 2025 relating to gun deaths.

Armed Domestic Violence and/or Victim Known to Perpetrator

We are aware of six reports in June 2025 that we believe to relate to the above:

• See Gun Deaths above — A man died after being fatally shot, allegedly by his cousin, in West London.

• A 35-year-old man has been jailed for three years and eight months after pleading guilty to intentional strangulation, stalking involving serious harm/distress, possessing an imitation firearm in a public place and threatening to share a photograph of a person in an intimate state. After his partner ended their relationship in November 2024, the man pinned her down by the throat and demanded money to move out of her home in Fordham, He went on to send her around 30 messages a day, including threats to kill, as well as sending a video of himself pulling the trigger of an imitation gun from a car window. Armed police officers arrested the man after finding the gun at his home two months later. The court heard that the victim had believed the gun to be real and, following sentencing, a police spokesperson praised her bravery in supporting the investigation. The man was also handed a 20-year restraining order.

• A 36-year-old man has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to two firearms charges with bail aggravations. In June 2024, police officers seized a Taser from the man’s home in Glasgow, Scotland. Three months later, a neighbour and her friend saw the man outside his home, holding what looked like a pistol. He gave his neighbour the gun to hold and told her that he was a gangster and had the weapon to kill people. Police officers later searched the man’s flat and recovered an Airsoft gun that matched the description given by the neighbour. On sentencing, the judge said, “Possession and use of imitation firearms are viewed very seriously by the courts… This is because imitation firearms are often used to frighten and intimidate victims. They may often be very hard to distinguish from the real thing, and they can be used in crime. Just having them can create dangers to people, because of the risk of them going into circulation, and being used by others in criminal activity that endangers the public.”

• A 28-year-old man has been jailed for two years and four months after admitting possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and sending a threatening message. In March 2025, the man threatened to kill his dad after rowing with him on the phone. He then called his mum and told her he was coming to their home in Newcastle, Tyne & Wear with a shotgun. Shortly afterwards, he banged on the door of his parents’ home, holding an airgun and shouting threats. The man, who fled before police responded, was arrested shortly afterwards at a property in Hexham, where officers recovered a loaded air pistol. The court heard that the man had a troubled relationship with his parents and that his father had believed he was going to be shot.

• A man was treated in hospital after being shot with an air weapon inside premises in Newmarket, Suffolk. His injuries were neither life threatening nor life changing. A man was arrested later the same day and subsequently charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and driving whilst over the legal limit of alcohol. It is believed the alleged perpetrator and victim know each other.

• After a person was threatened with a knife and BB gun in Maidstone, Kent, police officers arrested a man on suspicion of assault. It is believed the victim, who was treated by paramedics, knew their attacker.

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

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

• West Mercia Police are aware of a person allegedly approaching two licensed firearms holders online, offering to buy a firearm and pay by cheque. The individual used a photograph of a genuine firearms certificate, issued by Hampshire Constabulary, and asked that the firearm be shipped to them. The request breaches mandatory steps under the Firearms Amendment Act 1997, which states that a buyer must send their original firearms certificate by post to the seller and that a firearm must be shipped to a registered Firearms Dealer (RFD) where the buyer can collect it in person.

• A main highway near Norwich, Norfolk was closed after two rounds of ammunition, accidentally left on the roof of a police car attending a firearms incident, fell onto the road. Norfolk Police has opened an internal investigation into the incident.

• A 44-year-old man has been admonished after pleading guilty to possessing more ammunition than legally allowed. In December 2022 police visiting the man’s home near Haddington, East Lothian on an unrelated matter asked to view his ammunition. They found 298 securely-stored rounds, 48 more than the allowed quantity. The sheriff said he was satisfied this was “a matter of a lack of paying attention” rather than anything sinister.

• At a sheriff court in Campbeltown, Argyll, a farmer was fined £300 and deprived of his shotgun licence for failing to keep his gun secured.

We are aware of at least five reports in June 2025 involving the use of a police Taser:

• Police officers tasered a man following reports of shots fired in Maesteg, Bridgend. An air weapon was discovered in nearby undergrowth shortly afterwards.

• Police officers tasered a man who allegedly became “obstructive” following a single vehicle crash in Leicester, Leicestershire. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving offences and assault of an emergency worker.

• It has emerged that police officers tasered a man twice before arresting him in Hull, East Yorkshire in September 2024. When the man was approached by police after he failed to appear in court, he sped off past queuing traffic and drove along pavements and through red traffic lights before colliding with oncoming vehicles. He was tasered as he tried to flee the scene. The court heard that he had taken cocaine before the incident.

• Police officer responded after CCTV picked up a man behaving aggressively in the city centre of Exeter, The suspect was tasered and arrested after he allegedly attacked several people and damaged a shop sign.

• Following a concern for welfare report, police officers called at a property in Worthing, West Sussex where a man was threatening to harm himself with a knife. The officers used a Taser to disarm and restrain him after he failed to comply with instructions to drop the weapon.

Animal Death and Injury

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

• A cat required surgery after being shot in the leg with an air rifle or BB gun in Wendelbury, Oxfordshire. A spokesperson from Cats Protection said that there were 53 media reports of cats being shot in 2024, with this number believed to be “only the tip of the iceberg”.

• A herring gull was put to sleep after being shot with a BB gun in Yapton, West Sussex. An airgun pellet was found in the bird’s chest along with two ball bearings. A spokesperson for West Sussex Wildlife Protection said, “Birds in the UK are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, but, due to declining numbers across Europe, Herring Gulls have the highest level of protection – moving from an amber to a red environmental warning.”

• Two cats have been shot with an air rifle in Wokingham, Berkshire. A woman has since been arrested on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

• A swan and several Mallard ducks died after being shot with an air rifle at a nature reserve in Tottington, Greater Manchester. The swan, shot multiple times, left a partner and four cygnets. Wild birds are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is a criminal offence to deliberately kill or injure them. The attacks have been reported to police.

• A cat is recovering after being shot in the leg with an air rifle in Ledbury, Herefordshire. The pellet cannot be removed as it is lodged too deep. Police have been informed.

• It has emerged that, in February 2025, the body of a raven that had been killed with a shotgun was found near Bradford, South Yorkshire. The RSPB assisted South Yorkshire Police’s investigation into the illegal killing, but no suspect has been identified.

• A cat had an eye removed after it was shot with an airgun in Stoke, Staffordshire. Police have appealed for information.

• A cat, discovered injured by a member of the public in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was found to have been shot at close range with an air rifle. The cat was taken to a vet’s surgery where X-rays revealed a pellet lodged in her abdomen. She died overnight. An RSPCA spokesperson said there has been a “surge in cruel and unlawful attacks on animals with airguns”, with figures showing that during the first six months of last year, the number of recorded incidents involving cats alone was 44 – more than twice the figure of 18 for the first half of 2023.

• A cat had a leg amputated after being shot with an air rifle in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. Police have been informed.

• X-rays revealed that a cat, who “screamed in pain” when picked up by his owners, had been shot with an air weapon in Halewood, Merseyside. The cat is being monitored as five pellets remain lodged in his body. Police have been informed.

• Three teenagers reportedly shot at a pigeon with an air rifle in Sway, Hampshire. Police have issued a description of one of the alleged offenders.

• A cat is recovering after being shot with an air rifle in Salford, Greater Manchester, the pellet lodging near the animal’s spine. The cat’s owner said another of her cats had been shot in the past.

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 June 2025 relating to the above:

• A 58-year-old man has been jailed for five years after pleading guilty to fifteen counts of possession of a prohibited firearm and one count of possession of ammunition without a certificate. After Border Force officers intercepted a parcel from the US, addressed to the man and containing gun parts, National Crime Agency (NCA) officers raided his home in Kingsclere, Hampshire in December 2024.They recovered 28 viable guns, including seventeen shotguns, four deactivated Glock pistols that the man had reactivated and three blank-firing pistols that he had converted to fire live bullets. Eleven replica firearms, 100 bullets and a variety of gun component parts were also seized. Investigations revealed that the man had bought guns and component parts from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Estonia and the UK, but did not find any motivation for his stockpiling and converting the weapons. Following sentencing, an NCA spokesperson said, “This is one of the largest caches of illegal firearms I have seen at a single address.” He added that the man’s arsenal had a huge potential to cause harm in the wrong hands and the man also put himself at risk of being targeted by criminals who might have attempted to take the guns from him had they known about them.

• Border Force officers stopped a Lithuanian-registered heavy goods vehicle at the port in Dover, Kent and discovered 20 firearms, 320 rounds of ammunition, £4.5m worth of ketamine and £40,000 worth of MDMA pills hidden inside. The firearms are believed to be viable pistols. The driver was arrested on suspicion of smuggling the illegal items.

• A 40-year-old man from Walton le Dale, Lancashire and a 47-year-old man have been jailed for six and a half years and eighteen-and-a-half years, respectively, after being convicted of conspiracy to acquire a prohibited weapon. The younger man was further convicted for drug offences. After the criminal messaging network, EncroChat, was decrypted in 2020, messages revealed that the men had tried to arrange the sale of a handgun. Their plan was uncovered by the National Crime Agency and Lancashire Police.

Sentences and Convictions

We are aware of at least 40 reports in June 2025 of sentences and convictions for gun crime, including:

• A 23-year-old man has been jailed for seven years and three months after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. In June 2021, he drove a stolen car into a man’s moped before attacking him with a machete. Two days later, police officers detained the 23-year-old in Battersea, South London and found an illegal firearm in a bag that he had discarded nearby. The court heard that the machete attack was motivated by gang rivalry, the victim needing emergency life-saving care.

• A 19-year-old man has been jailed for three years and three months after being convicted of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and robbery. In April 2025, two police officers seized a suspected stolen motorbike in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Shortly afterwards the man approached them with a firearm and threatened them. Following sentencing, a police spokesperson commended the officers involved for their “strength and bravery” in supporting the investigation, adding, “This was an understandably frightening ordeal which no officer should have to endure when going about their daily work.”

• A 30-year-old man and a 22-year-old man have been jailed for eighteen and sixteen years, respectively, for conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life. In March 2023, the 30-year-old fired a shotgun towards a house in Stockport, Greater Manchester and threw an explosive device containing hydrochloric acid at it. The following month, a family had to take cover in their car when he fired shots towards their home. Nine days later, he fired two shots inside a burger bar in front of staff and customers. No one was injured during the shootings, though one victim has been left too scared to go out in public, The court heard that the 22-year-old had organised the attacks “on behalf of unidentified higher-ranking figures in the underworld”.

• Five people have been jailed for their involvement in a conspiracy to supply guns and ammunition. In October 2023, police officers arrested two people after seizing a revolver and ammunition from a car parked in Birmingham, West Midlands. The suspects’ phones revealed evidence that a man, in prison for aggravated burglary at the time, was co-ordinating the movement of guns, while the first man and one other were involved in handling and couriering them. Investigations revealed that a fifth person had tried to buy the recovered gun. The five defendants were jailed for a total of over 32 years for firearms related charges.

• A 27-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man have each been jailed for twelve years, their sentences relating to firearms, drugs and other offences including, in the case of the woman, causing unnecessary suffering to a dog. In December 2022, British Transport Police officers stopped a teenage boy who was carrying drugs in Islington. His phone revealed that the woman was instructing him to deal drugs for her. When police officers stopped the woman’s car the following year, they retrieved 500g of cocaine and five large hunting knives. The woman, a registered children’s social worker, was found to be regular contact with the man, in prison at the time, for a firearms offence. The woman’s phone provided evidence that she was receiving instructions from him to deliver firearms and drugs to customers, with one of the weapons identified being linked to a murder investigation in London.

• Two men, both aged 20, have been ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to two counts of common assault. In July 2023, the pair fired pellets from a gel blaster at staff as they drove past a nightclub in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Two people were hit, one in the back of the head and, the other, in the face. Armed police officers responded to the incident following reports of a potential firearm and the offenders were arrested shortly afterwards.

• Four men have each been jailed for seventeen years, and a further three men each received sixteen years, for conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The seven men, together with an eighth man who was jailed for two years for assisting an offender, were involved in a “premeditated violent attack” in July 2024, during which five men sitting in a car in Walsall, West Midlands were attacked. A vehicle was used to ram the victims’ car before the men attacked them with weapons including machetes, blades, baseball bats and cricket bats. One of the offenders fired a single-barrelled shogun into the car at close range, seriously injuring one man, while three others were stabbed. A ninth man, wanted in connection with the attack, remains at large.

• Three men aged 62, 65 and 64 years have been jailed for 32 years, 25 years and thirteen-and-a-half years, respectively, for conspiring with others to sell or transfer a firearm, conspiring with others to have in their possession a firearm with intent by means thereof to endanger life, or to enable another person by means thereof to endanger life and conspiring with others to convert into a firearm a thing, namely a blank-firing firearm. Following a lengthy investigation, detectives discovered that the 62-year-old man organised and controlled the supply of “assassination kits”, which were distributed to other criminals by the 65-year-old man. The kits contained a modified blank-firing gun, modified ammunition and a silencer, obtained and converted by the 64-year-old at his home in Alfreton, Derbyshire. In August 2023, police officers seized four of the kits when they stopped a vehicle in Leicestershire and, after DNA evidence linked back to the gang, the home of the 64-year-old was raided. He was found in the garden with a bag containing an unconverted handgun, ammunition and a throwing star, while crossbows, knives, axes, machetes, swords, gas-powered weapons, airguns and associated ammunition were seized from inside his property. Tools and machinery used for converting blank-firing handguns were discovered in a large outbuilding. It was found that at least 33 such firearms had been previously manufactured and that the gang had the potential to supply 80 more packages. A fourth 22-year-old defendant, who concealed two handguns, two silencers and ammunition in a safe hidden in his garden, was sentenced to four years in prison. Following sentencing, a police spokesperson said, “These are ruthless individuals that have a complete disregard for human life. They were creating, packaging and distributing firearms, which would have led to devastating consequences had they been used in public.”

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.

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: June 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 airgun 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 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. 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.); 3D guns, Olympic starting pistols; Tasers; blank firers; 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.