From: [C reuters] at [clari.net] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.world.asia.china,clari.news.issues.guns,clari.news.issues.misc
Subject: China steps up crackdown on firearms
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 7:10:37 PDT
Expires: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 7:10:37 PDT
                                         
         BEIJING (Reuter) - China has stepped up its crackdown on  
firearms, ordering gun owners to register or hand in all 
firearms before October to curb soaring crime involving guns. 
         The Ministry of Public Security issued a notice prohibiting  
the smuggling, manufacture or sale of military firearms before 
the new gun law takes effect on Oct. 1, the Xinhua news agency 
said Tuesday. 
         The notice also bans illegal possession, concealing or  
firing of any gun, including electric shock and teargas guns, 
Xinhua said. 
         Until Sept. 30, people who voluntarily handed in their  
firearms would be treated leniently, while anyone caught with a 
gun after the deadline would be punished severely, it said. 
         Firearms owners with a valid license had to re-register  
their guns at local public security offices before the end of 
September, it said. 
         The number of crimes and fights involving guns in China has  
soared in recent years and illicit dealing in firearms is 
rampant in some parts of the country, according to police 
officials. 
         In early July, the Ministry of Public Security reported that  
it had seized 560,000 guns, 1,200 of them military weapons, 
since the launch of a nationwide ``Strike Hard'' campaign 
against crime in April this year. 
         The new gun law aims to reduce the number of people allowed  
to possess firearms and regulate better the manufacture, sale 
and purchase of guns.