ARMED police responses are down across Gwent, despite a number of high-profile gun crime incidents this summer.

An FOI request has revealed that from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013, there were 104 armed responses by Gwent police. This is compared to 186 incidents in the previous 12 months.

Approximately 31 per cent of all armed responses were carried out in Newport in the last year.

Some 39 per cent of incidents listed a firearm - whether with a shotgun, hand gun or otherwise, as the threat. On average, the summer months had lower rates of armed response incidents than Autumn and Winter months.

Other incidents detailed Samurai swords, kitchen knives, machetes and even a spanner and screwdriver as the potential threats.

The threats listed were not always known, but may have been perceived, therefore not all incidents necessarily involved the weapons referred to.

Over the past year, a number of gun-related crime incidents have caught local and national media attention. In August, a double shooting killed Caroline Parry, when her husband Christopher, shot her in the back before turning the gun on himself.

Later that month, a man was left seriously injured after a car chase involving drugs and a BB gun happened in Bank Street, St Julians.

A similar but unrelated incident took place just weeks later in Somerton where gun shots were fired during a car chase with two vehicles before one was rammed off the road.

An armed siege took place in Argoed, Blackwood last winter when a man fired a nail gun at police from inside a property.