The Lincolnshire Echo has started a campaign to Ban Replica Guns following an increase in armed incidents in the county over the past five years.

In 1997-98, the county police’s armed response unit was called out to 29 incidents, with this figure rising to 486 in 2001-02. In the first four months of this year, the unit has been out 260 times.

More than half of these incidents involved replica guns and after a Lincolnshire Echo reporter purchased a fake firearm for £30 from a local toy shop, the paper is now calling for replicas to be banned.

The ballbearing replica gun bought by the reporter even carried the warning: “Please bear in mind that because your replica weapon is so realistic, running about in a public place or having them to hand in a public place or displaying them in an anti-social way could well precipitate a very dangerous situation with the armed police.”

Echo reporter Ben Rooth, who is leading the campaign, said: “Since April 1 there have already been 260 incidents of gun crime.

“It is escalating out of all control and speaking to workers of the armed response unit, it appears that between 50-80 per cent [of crimes] involve a replica gun. It made total sense to campaign for a ban.

“We will continue to campaign for replica weapons to be banned in the very near future.”

PC Colin Williams, of the firearms unit, said: “It is just impossible to tell the difference between a real gun and a replica.

“Without doubt, replica guns are the bane of firearms squad’s life and this situation is not improving. It is always possible that someone could get killed.”

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