Police carried out a blitz of drug-related arrests in some of Liverpool's toughest areas today, as the Home Secretary used a visit to the city to claim that most deactivated guns would be banned by the end of the year.

Thirty one people were arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs in the notorious Croxteth and Norris Green areas, with Merseyside Police seizing four handguns, ammunition, Class A drugs and more than £10,000 in cash..

Jacqui Smith, meanwhile, met youngsters, police and community workers in several of the city's troublespots to discuss gang issues.

Concern over gangs and gun crime in Liverpool has been on the rise since a number of high-profile murders, including the shooting of the 11-year-old Rhys Jones as he walked home from football practice last August.

In a statement today, the Home Secretary confirmed that the Government intended to implement a ban on guns deactivated before 1995.

The Government chose 1995 as a watershed because new standards were introduced at that time to make it harder to convert non-firing guns back into lethal weapons. Police report that many firearms now being used in crime were deactivated before that year.

However, the Conservatives claimed that reactivated weapons made up only a tiny proportion of those involved in gun crime, and that the measure would do little to combat the problem in the UK as a whole.

"We already have the tightest controls in Europe, but there is more we can do to remove the threat of gun crime," Ms Smith said.

"Before 1995, the standards for deactivating guns were less stringent than those which currently apply.

"The police tell me these pre-1995 weapons are turning up more and more in gun related crime and I want to address these concerns to effectively eliminate the threat from our streets."

She added: "I want to balance protecting the public with the rights of responsible collectors of deactivated firearms."

The Home Office added that museums and enthusiasts with collections of antique weapons would be considered for exemption. Around 120,000 antique guns are estimated to be held by collectors around Britain.

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