Beijing is tightening control on the storage and safe handling of guns, ammunition, explosives and radioactive materials in a bid to secure a safe Olympics in 2008, the capital's police chief said Tuesday.

Beijing will no longer approve commercial shooting ranges and hunting ranges, and sports authorities are required to reduce the number of shooting ranges for training purposes and cut down the number of guns, said Ma Zhenchuan, director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Museums and exhibition halls that fail to safely display weapons must remove them, Ma said. Gun producers and sellers and professional storing agencies of guns should reduce their guns and ammunition, he said.

Private ownership of guns is forbidden in China. Meanwhile, guns owned by organizations that are engaged in sport shooting should not be increased, he said.

In the future, local police will only approve new state or municipal storehouses for high risk explosives in the eight districts of the city, and police will only approve explosive tests within the city that are attached to necessary scientific and teaching programs.

All the districts and counties administered by Beijing are also ordered to cut down on the number of storehouses of explosives, toxic chemicals and radioactive material, he said.

"If such dangerous articles (guns, ammunition, explosives and radioactive material) are lost or stolen due to a lack of management, the organizations and manager will prosecuted and their permits revoked," Ma said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006)