CRIMINALS who use guns can expect lengthy prison sentences and six people who involved themselves with the weapons in Bolton and Little Hulton are now paying the price.
In 2021 judges jailed members of two drugs gangs after guns were fired in Bolton.
Shots were fired at a house where, fortunately, no one was injured but, in a separate incident, a man was wounded after being blasted in the street with a shotgun.
And a woman found that it is not only firing guns which results in time behind bars. She is now in prison after agreeing to store a bag which contained a firearm and ammunition.
Andrew Johannessen, Lewis Sinclair and Shawn O'Malley
VIOLENT drugs gang members travelled to Bolton to carry out a shooting in Hilden Street, Bolton as part of a feud between organised crime gangs.
While getaway driver Andrew Johannessen waited in a car around the corner, Lewis Sinclair and Shawn O'Malley, dressed in black and with their faces covered walked up the street before stopping in front of a terraced house.
Sinclair took aim with a Czech 9mm parabellum self-loading pistol and fired six shots at the windows and door of the proper
The gang fled towards Leigh and then on to St Helens before planting the weapon, plus cocaine, in a car belonging to a rival of drugs boss Leon Cullen in a bid to frame him.
At Bolton Crown Court Sinclair, aged 39, from Partington and Johannessen, 38, from St Helens, were each jailed for 12 years plus a further 27 months on licence after admitting conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and a string of other offences.
Sentencing them, the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh told them: "Guns kill, maim, terrorise and intimidate. Too many are carried and too many are used, often with devastating effect upon individuals and always with an insidious and corrosive impact on the well-being of the local community."
In a separate hearing at Liverpool Crown Court O' Malley, aged 33, from Orford, was jailed for 18 years with a further five years on licence after admitting the same offence plus a series of other violent crimes.
READ MORE: Johannessen, Sinclair and O'Malley
Abdul Said, Sabir Abdulkadir and Ismail Abdullahi
A DRUGS dispute between rival gangs is believed to be behind a shooting which brought fear to the streets of Halliwell.
Abdul Said, Sabir Abdulkadir and Ismail Abdullahi arranged to meet rival Jon Robinson in the early hours of the morning in Glenthorne Street.
Robinson awaited their arrival armed with a knife and a hammer while Abdullahi, aged 22, also had a knife and Abdulkadir was carrying a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun wrapped in a carrier bag.
Abdulkadir gave chase and fired when Robinson ran off after seeing the gun.
Robinson, who was jailed for two years for affray and possessing weapons, then ran towards the gang's car, smashing it with a hammer before a voice was heard shouting "Blast him, F***ing blast him".
A second shot was fired and gun pellets lodged in Robinson's back.
Abdulkadir aged 21, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and affray and was jailed for 14 years and four months while Abdullahi, 22, and Said, 21, both admitted affray and possessing a firearm intending to cause fear of violence.
At Minshull Street Crown Court Said was jailed for six years and Abdullahi for five years and 10 months.
READ MORE: Said, Abdulkadir and Abdullahi
Mia Peers
PREGNANT mum Mia Peers discovered the consequences of handling firearms when she was sent to a young offenders' institution.
The 20-year-old from Little Hulton, who appeared on the TV programme, Educating Greater Manchester in 2017, had been handed a bag by a man she had an on/off relationship with and told not to ask any questions.
Peers hid the bag, which contained a modified pistol and five bullets, in a cupboard under the stairs but police discovered it after she was confronted by masked men.
The men held a knife to her throat and demanded to know where the firearm was.
Police later found Peers' finger prints on the weapon.
At Manchester Crown Court Peers admitted possessing a firearm and was jailed for five years, which was later reduced to three years and nine months on appeal.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article