The government has launched a new review designed to help communities tackle the rise in firearms offences.

A comprehensive review of the UK's gun laws and a £2.25 million cash boost for areas blighted by an escalation in shootings form the two new initiatives.

Most of the budget - £2 million - will be drawn from recovered criminal assets.

Another £250,000, known as the Connected Fund, will be allocated to small community organisations tackling the spread of guns.

The review comes on top of new laws on gun crime. The government has already introduced a five-year minimum sentence for the possession of an illegal gun and new restrictions on air weapons and replicas.

It also held a firearms amnesty which reportedly took 43,000 guns and a million rounds of ammunition off the streets.

The Home Office has also expressed its willingness to encourage a wide-ranging debate on all aspects of the legislation covering firearms in the UK and has published a consultation paper looking at how the law might be made more effective.

Murders

The government is keen to be seen to be acting tough on the rise in shootings after several high-profile murders.

"It is essential that our laws are robust enough to deal with twenty first century criminals", said home office minister Caroline Flint.

"The government, working with the police and communities, has driven forward a comprehensive package of work to tackle gun crime.

"The increase of gun crime has slowed dramatically, but we are not complacent and there is still much more to be done. 

"Our review of gun laws, even more support for community engagement, and ever more effective police action will help drive the scourge of illegal guns off our streets", she said.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) also published a thematic report today, Guns, Community and the Police, into criminal use of firearms.

It concludes that prevention and diversionary intervention are as important as the deployment of armed officers in achieving a long term reduction in the level of gun crime.

The report also highlights statistics showing that, while the overall level of gun crime is rising, it still represents only half of one per cent of all reported crime and the majority of shootings do not result in injury.