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Violent Crime Reduction Bill

I can certainly confirm that we have had some informal discussions with the gun trade; informal discussions take place all the time and we recognise the importance of keeping those informal contacts up. The noble Baroness raises an interesting issue about batches and it is something I will take away and give some further thought to. Our approach is perhaps overly cautious in the sense that until we are absolutely sure of the shape of this legislation we thought it was rather premature to have the more detailed consultation. I made the commitment that there will be careful and detailed consultation with the trade and we will put that in good order so long as we at first secure the legislation in the way in which we seek to at the moment. I hope that will satisfy the noble Baroness.