Almost a dozen firearm licences were revoked by the police across Thames Valley last year.

New figures from the Home Office show a record number of licences were removed from gun users in England and Wales last year.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has praised the vetting process which weeds out unsuitable gun owners.

In Thames Valley, 11 firearms licences were revoked by the TVP in the year to March – in line with 2021-22 figures.

A further 45 shotgun licences were revoked last year.

When records first began in 2008-09, a total of 15 firearms were revoked.

In Thames Valley, 63 firearms or shotguns were reportedly lost or stolen – up from 11 in 2020-21.

Head of firearms at BASC Martin Parker said the reason for the record numbers was "almost certainly the introduction of statutory guidance on suitability checks of certificate holders in 2021", which the BASC assisted in creating to improve consistency across police forces in England and Wales.

He added: "Shooting is an incredibly popular activity, incorporating tens of thousands of jobs, highly competitive target and clay pigeon shooting, and essential wildlife management."

In England and Wales, 418 firearms were revoked in 2022-23 – up from 385 last year before and the highest number on record, which began nationally in 1992.

The campaign group Action on Armed Violence said the UK gun laws “work”, with firearms deaths lower nationally than in many other countries.

The group’s executive director Iain Overton said the figures "can be viewed two ways: the first is, reassuringly, in that there are attempts to assure that firearms in the UK are only held by those capable of using them legally. The second is a cause of concern, that the numbers are rising".

"The truth is that we, compared to many countries, are a remarkably safe nation for firearm deaths. Ultimately, we should be more concerned with knife crime than gun crime. In an imperfect world, our gun laws work,” he added.