"Figure 4: Firearms were fired in around half of the offences recorded in the last year","" "Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by type of principal weapon and weapon usage, England and Wales, year ending March 2019","" "","" "Notes","1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 2. Imitation firearms include weapons such as BB guns and soft air weapons, which can fire small plastic pellets at low velocity. 3. Rifles and others includes starting guns, supposed or type unknown, prohibited firearms (including CS gas), and other firearms." "Unit","Percentage" "","" "Principal weapon ","% used as a threat","% used as blunt instrument","% fired" "Total"," 46.982 "," 2.353 "," 50.665 " "Air-weapons"," 21.896 "," 0.330 "," 77.774 " "Imitation firearms"," 26.866 "," 1.493 "," 71.642 " "Shotguns"," 44.165 "," 3.102 "," 52.733 " "Rifles/others"," 57.517 "," 0.924 "," 41.560 " "Non-air weapons"," 58.233 "," 3.270 "," 38.497 " "Handguns"," 78.430 "," 5.869 "," 15.701 "