A SURGE in air rifle shootings has pushed gun crime numbers up by more than 50% in the past year, according to police.

In total, 101 firearms offences were recorded in 2010, compared to 65 the year before.

And as of February this year, a further two offences had been recorded, bringing the total to 103.

Of that total, 58 incidents involved air weapons. But Assistant Chief Constable Alec Wood said people should not be alarmed by the increase.

He said: "Any rise in any type of crime is a concern for us. But there is some context behind these figures which might reassure people.

"First of all only two of the firearms incidents involved any injury to anyone and these were minor injuries.

"One of these I cannot comment on at this point but the other concerns an assault with a stun gun, which is classed as a firearm."

As of February, the total of 103 gun crime offences was made up of 32 offences involving firearms, six involving imitation firearms, 58 air weapons incidents and seven incidents classed as "other".

Mr Wood said many of the air rifle incidents, which had risen by 14 from last year, were caused by two individuals.

He said: "We had two separate incidents where youths with air rifles were firing at different people. Each of the times someone was shot at, that was reported as a separate incident.

"Those two individuals accounted for a large part of the rise by themselves. If that had not happened the figures would be a lot lower."

Air weapons fire a projectile, such as a pellet, using compressed air. In March, an owl, a swan, two herons, two ducks and a rabbit were found dead in Alvaston.

It was believed the animals had been shot by teenagers armed with air rifles.

Mr Wood said the police took air rifle incidents very seriously.

He said: "Although air rifles are legally available and can be bought quite easily, they can still be extremely dangerous and can cause injuries. They are serious but they are of a lower level of danger than full firearms like handguns and shotguns."

He said the firearms figures, which had grown by eight incidents, included reports of people being armed with the weapons – even if the report was not proved.

He said: "If somebody says they have been threatened with a firearm and they report it, we have to include that as a firearm offence statistic even if we can't actually prove there was a weapon involved.

"We take each report very seriously but, even with the figure at 103 in total for all firearms offences, we are still one of the safest counties in the East Midlands. We are in a good position."