The population has voluntarily yielded up 342 guns to the police this year. Twelve of these guns have been involved in different criminal activities. At the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Government this February approved a decision to amnesty the citizens that have unregistered firearms and to offer them the possibility of registering them officially for a given charge after the guns pass the technical examination. Mihail Cebotaru, head of the Interior Ministry’s General Public Order Division, said that the number of arms given to the police this year is not significant. During two previous amnesty stages, in 2000 and 2003, the people yielded up 4,200 firearms. The Government Decision does not set a deadline for amnestying, Mihai Cebotaru says, but this will depend on the number of arms given voluntarily. According to official accounts, 47,200 Moldovans possess about 53,500 guns, including 12,200 rifles, 33,200 smoothbore arms and 8,000 gas pistols. Police say that this is a rather large number for Moldova. The police consider that the population holds illegally a considerable number of firearms that are used for criminal purposes inclusively. Twenty-two offences have been committed this year using firearms, a 35.3% decrease compared with the corresponding period last year.