Five million Britons 'could get a gun'

[Not_much_cop]

A report into gun crime in the UK has claimed that five million men know how to illegally buy a firearm.

The YouGov survey which polled 2,000 adults in England, Wales and England found that nearly a fifth of men (18 per cent) claimed they knew how to get their hands on an illegal firearm.

The figure is equivalent of five million people. One in eight of those questioned said they knew someone who had such a weapon, or had owned one in the past.

Almost half (45 per cent) believed their area was less safe than it was five years ago due to gun and knife crime.

Around a third of people (29 per cent) surveyed by YouGov for the think-tank Policy Exchange said they or their immediate family were at risk of such crimes, with the figure rising to 42 per cent in London.

Even in rural areas, 23 per cent of residents said they or their family were at risk.

The report, Gun and Knife Crime in Great Britain, claimed that gun culture now affected not just lower income groups but all sections of society in all parts of the country.

Policy Exchange research director Gavin Lockhart said: "It is clear that it is no longer just hardened criminals who have access to guns or deprived inner city communities which are affected by them.

"Britain's gun culture has become so endemic it affects huge swathes of the population, with millions of people saying they know how to get hold of illegal firearms and millions more feeling personally threatened by them.

"It is no surprise that gun crime casualties have quadrupled in the past decade, or that voters are demanding the Government take a far more hardline stance."