OWNERS of illegal guns in Swindon are getting the chance to turn the weapons over to police.

A national firearms amnesty beginning today and running until April 30 enables people to hand in guns and ammunition without being prosecuted for illegal possession.

As well as prohibited, unlicensed and unwanted firearms, the police are encouraging people to hand in air weapons and imitation guns, which can be used to commit crime.

The amnesty's three main aims are:

n To reduce the number of illegally held weapons.

n To encourage the surrender of firearms held lawfully, including ball-bearing firing (BB) guns.

n To reinforce the public message that illegal possession of firearms and imitation firearms is not acceptable and could have fatal consequences.

Since last April, there have been 111 recorded crimes in Swindon involving offensive weapons. Reported incidents involving firearms in the same period totalled 153.

Inspector Keith Ewart, of Swindon police, said: "Compared to larger cities such as Manchester and London we get off very lightly. The firearms amnesty will mean that we will not pursue illegally-held weapons, and we will be quite happy to take legally-held weapons off people's hands as well."

Wiltshire Constabulary spokeswoman Jacqui Broadbridge said: "From October 2002 to March 2003, police control rooms in the county took reports of 142 firearms incidents, of which 65 per cent related to BB guns or air weapons.

"Fortunately, no member of the public has ever been shot by armed police officers in this county, and Wiltshire Constabulary sincerely hopes that this proud record will be maintained.

"However, the possession of firearms, replica firearms and air weapons is an extremely serious matter and we cannot stress enough the importance of public support for this amnesty."

In the last gun amnesty in 1996, more than 800 weapons and 2.5 tons of ammunition were surrendered in Wiltshire. No figures are available for the number of weapons turned over then in Swindon.

Between 500 and 700 firearms are destroyed annually in the county through standard surrender procedures, and in the first three months of this year 125 firearms have been surrendered, including shotguns, starting pistols, BB guns and air weapons.

The national firearms amnesty is a Home Office initiative, which has the unreserved support of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

This move comes ahead of the introduction of tough new sentences for illegal possession of prohibited firearms, which will see a minimum five-year sentence for those convicted.