In February, we reported that gun crime had risen in Barnet by 13 per cent over 2016, and by 22 per cent in London as a whole.

Metropolitan Police called on those in possession of guns to hand them in over a week in February, and kept their police stations open for 24 hours a day in order to accommodate this.

Temi Mwale, who heads the 4Front project, which works to combat violent crime in young people, said not enough is being done to address problems.

She said: “We are not surprised by the statistics, the reality is violence and the threat of violence is commonplace for many young people and unavailability of legitimate means for financial gain has pushed many towards the illicit markets which are regulated by violence."

In London overall, there were more than 420 individual cases reported of gun crime in 2016.