A month-long gun amnesty that finished today was a success, despite the catch being lower than previous, police said today.

"There has been a fantastic response to the amnesty in London, and the streets must be a safer place as a result of these weapons and ammunition being taken off them," said Commander Alan Brown.

Nearly 1,500 firearms and 34,677 rounds of ammunition had been surrendered at London police stations this morning, just hours before the end of the latest gun amnesty.

Among the national catch was a rocket launcher, grenades, revolvers, pistols, converted air weapons, self-loading hand guns to machine guns and a sten gun.

A further 522 other weapons, mostly knives, have also been surrendered since the amnesty started.

Fifty percent of gun crime in the UK occurs in London but of the 20,000 weapons surrendered, this month, only 10 percent were in the capital.

Head of gun crime for the Met Commander Alan Brown said, despite the figures, it was not that simple.

The gun amnesty was a success because it had taken a pool of guns out of circulation which could not fall into the hands of people who would commit crime, he said.

About 260 of the weapons handed in fitted the profile of weapons which could have been used to commit crimes, he said.

Forensic scientists were to examine the guns for signs of a criminal past, Commander Brown said.

"The perception London was awash with firearms is not right," Commander Brown said.

In the first three months of this year there had been an eight percent reduction in the level of offending in London, he said.

But there was no room for complacency as the last few weeks had shown, with several fatal shootings in the capital, he said.

"One firearm crime is one firearm crime too many," Commander Brown said.

There was a changing trend in gun crime_ firearms were being used more at the lower crime level to intimidate, he said.

One of the greatest challenges for the government was stopping imports of weapons capable of being converted and then falling into the hands of the wrong people.

The shootings of young cousins Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in Birmingham in January prompted the amnesty.

Before the start of the amnesty the Home Office introduced a minimum five-year sentence for people convicted of illegal possession of prohibited firearms.

It was the first national firearms amnesty held since the 1996 Dunblane shootings- which netted 23,000 firearms and 700,000 rounds of ammunition.

The firearms surrendered during the amnesty would be destroyed, the only exception were those considered antiques which would be sent to a museum.

The amnesty officially finishes tonight at midnight, but police urged anyone who knew someone who had a firearm, or had information about firearm crime to come forward and speak with us, or phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Gun amnesty figures are from March 31 until April 22.

Firearms surrendered include: 347 prohibited weapons, of which 284 were handguns of varying types i.e. 90 self loading, 143 revolvers, 24 single shot pistols, and 27 other. 373 imitation firearms (including BB guns and deactivations),433 air weapons 247 rifles and shot guns, 85 others (e.g. verey pistols)

Total firearms offences across the MPS are up 3 percent on previous year - 3861 in 2002/3 compared to 3745 in 2001/2 (financial year).

Total notifiable offences involving a firearm (including criminal damage):

Jan 2002 567

Feb 2002 365

March 2002 456

Jan 2003 435

Feb 2003 386

March 2003 406

The following are a breakdown of those offences in which guns were fired or not fired.

Fired........... ..Not fired

Jan 2002.....201................366

Feb 2002....129................236

Mar 2002....157................299

Fired............. .Not fired

Jan 2003...174................261

Feb 2003...146................240

Mar 2003...171................235

April 30, 2003 17:00