In London, a major area of concern is still black-on-black gun crime, despite huge efforts by the Met to combat such violence. According to Operation Trident, the Met's unit combating black gun crime, offences in the capital rose by more than 50 per cent during 2005, with 164 offences recorded between April and October. This is compared with only 108 the previous year.

Operation Trafalgar, which focuses on gun crime in other communities, saw a total of 536 people arrested last year, as well as 74 firearms, 354 rounds of ammunition and 5.5 kilos of class A drugs seized.

The Met has already increased the number of stop-and-search operations it carries out in boroughs where most of the serious firearms incidents take place.

Outside London, the figures also show a disturbing rise in the use of guns. In Bedfordshire, gun-related offences have risen by 20 per cent over the past two years, from 173 in 2004 to 207 in 2005. The number of cases where people were found carrying a gun more than doubled from 19 to 43 in the same period. There was also a rise in the number of stolen firearms seized - 18 compared with one the year before.

Gun violence has more than doubled in Durham over the past year and in Dorset the number of people found in possession of a gun has increased by 150 per cent, though the force's overall gun crime figures have fallen.