(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-23 06:59

CHENGDU -- Police destroyed about 20,000 illegally owned guns in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Thursday in a bid to reduce crime.

"Use of guns is involved in most of the crimes in the region," said an official surnamed Deng with the public security bureau of Garze. "People tend to threaten each other with guns in disputes over trivial things."

A total of 19,676 guns, including 577 used military weapons, were confiscated. Police also seized about 370,000 bullets, 4,725 kilograms of dynamite, 236 hand grenades and 1,496 knives.

Covering an area of 155,952 square kilometers, the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is located at the juncture of four major regions: Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet and Qinghai. More than 736,000 people, or over 80 percent of the prefecture's population, are Tibetan.

According to Deng, herdsmen are permitted to have registered guns in pasturelands for self-defense. He didn't specify the number of guns registered in the region.

Although police started confiscating illegal guns in the late 1990s, crimes involving illicit weapons still occur.

The latest was in July, when a feud between two southwest China townships over access to valuable wild fungus erupted into a gun battle of about 200 residents. Eight people were killed and 44 were wounded.

"I understand and support the confiscation," said Kagya, a villager in his 40s from Xisonglong village, Garze county.

In that village, there are 30 households with 160 villagers, who live on about 20 hectares of land and raise 500 head of livestock.

"In the past, the village was out-of-the-way and we needed guns to defend ourselves against beasts and robbers," Kagya noted. "Now that roads have been built by the local government and public security has been improved, our village turned in 10 guns voluntarily."

"Real stability can be achieved only after illegal guns are reduced," he added.