In the wake of the latest police shooting in which a man died, we focus on gun usage...

IT'S THE split second decision that can cost someone their life. When the country's armed police squads are deployed they don't have time to dither - and, what's more, they're trained not to.

Taking aim, as their target looks down the barrel of a gun, marksmen must act immediately.

But, with two deaths at the hands of officers in the past week, the current policy is suddenly under the spotlight.

Yesterday afternoon a man carrying a cigarette lighter in the shape of a gun died after being shot six times by an armed police officer in Brixton, south London.

On Saturday schizophrenic Andrew Kernan was gunned down in a Liverpool street by a squad called out to help him as he brandished a Samurai sword.

Efforts to defuse the situation with CS gas had failed.

In the wake of these incidents, there are now calls for police to be armed with non-deadly weapons.

Experiments are under way with an electrical stun gun, chemical weapons and guns which fire rubber bullets.

However, as it stands, armed officers around the country remain on standby, ready to be called out at a moment's notice.

Police have often spoken of the difficulties they face distinguishing between real and fake weapons.

At Hampshire Police's Netley training headquarters are two glass cases, one containing actual guns and one mere imitations.

Even experienced marksmen cannot tell the difference between them at a glance.

To the untrained eye, well, they just look identical.

Which is why head of Hampshire Police weapon training department acting Insp John Anderson says he would welcome any ownership restrictions on fakes.

"Asking officers to make split-second decisions is almost impossible. Some of the replicas can be very realistic in terms of working action. But, at the moment, someone can walk down the street with one and there's nothing we can do about it. It would be nice if we could charge someone with mere possession of a replica."

The use of replicas forms the hardcore of serious gun offences. Britain has some of the tightest gun laws in the world.

However you still don't need a licence to own an imitation weapon, ownership only becoming illegal if used as part of a crime.

Yesterday the results of a study carried out by King's College London's Centre for Defence Studies showed the criminal use of handguns soared by up by 40 per cent in the two years after the weapons were banned in 1997.

The number of crimes in which the weapons were reported to have been used increased from 2,648 three years ago to 3,685 in 2000.

In Hampshire Ian Phelps, 33, was jailed for 14 years last November for carrying out a string of robberies across the south. These included two in Southampton in which Phelps used an imitation gun.

Gosport's Allan Moynihan received a three-year sentence last year for shooting a teenager in the neck with an air gun.

Officers found a stash of fake weaponry, including an Uzi and a sawn-off shotgun, at his home.

But, while this latest national report does shows a clear escalation of gun-assisted crime across the country, the national picture does not appear to be reflected here.

For the year to June, there have been 236 incidents involving firearms in Hampshire - the majority of which were not of a serious nature.

Out of a force of around 3,500 officers, about 100 are allowed to carry weapons and their deployment is by no means a daily occurrence.

Last Friday officers carried out gunpoint arrests on a Southamp-ton street.

The dramatic picture was carried on the front page of the Daily Echo on Saturday.

This year authorisation for the use of firearms by officers has been granted 96 times for VIP protection, spontaneous and pre-planned firearms operations.

On each occasion the assistant chief constable must first weigh up the circumstances.

Sometimes he refuses to give his permission and the situation has to be dealt with in some other way.

"We've probably dealt with a slight increase in deployments this year, but they've mostly been planned operations against known suspects," said acting Insp Anderson.

"However, it's fair to say work comes in fits and starts."

Despite the static level of such crimes, the issue of fake weapons is one where the Daily Echo has already taken action and could affect forthcoming government policy.

Last year we highlighted just how easy it is to buy imitation guns when one of out reporters snapped one up for under £50 in Shirley.

Southampton MP Alan Whitehead was so shocked by our coverage that he has since campaigned to limit their ownership.

Now the matter has been taken up in Whitehall and the introduction of legislation is a distinct possibility.