File photo:Xinhua

The Chinese ministry of public security launched a special campaign on Saturday to enhance management of guns and dangerous explosive items and crack down on related crimes. 

The ministry held an online nationwide meeting on Friday vowing to enhance the special campaign in order to eliminate potential elements that would threaten social stability and root out crimes related to guns and explosive items, the ministry announced.

According to the meeting, thorough crackdown will be conducted across the whole ecosystem related to guns and explosive items. Surveillance over production, delivery and sale of dangerous explosive items would also be enhanced.  

Efforts will also be made to encourage the public to provide tip-offs, self-report, and hand in illegal guns and explosives voluntarily, the ministry added.

Possession of guns by private individuals is illegal in China. The country has long maintained high pressure on gun-related and explosives crime. 

China in 2018 staged a two-year campaign jointly conducted by 24 ministries and departments against gun and explosives crimes across the country that targeted the manufacture and sale of guns and explosives in China and the smuggling of related goods from other countries.

From January to November 2018, the country reported 42 gun crimes and 39 explosive items crimes, decreasing by 27.6 percent and 29 percent, respectively. China had become one of the countries with lowest rate for these crimes, Chinese authorities said.

To consolidate the achievements, in 2020, the country launched a new round of three-year special campaign against the crimes. 

In November 2020, 153 cities across China carried out a national joint operation destroying some 69,000 illegal guns and a large number of explosives in a centralized and safe fashion.

Global Times