The British government appears set to long-finger proposals which would drastically reduce the number of legally-held firearms in Northern Ireland.
Senior unionist politicians have been involved in a behind-the-scenes battle to prevent the government's continuing review of the North's firearms legislation, embracing the question of personal protection weapons.
And the political argument seemed certain to be extended last night as the Northern Ireland Office confirmed that the Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, had completed her review and hoped to "publish her proposals as a consultation paper in the near future". At the same time, The Irish Times was told, Dr Mowlam "will announce her intentions as to the control of handguns".
It is understood the NIO's review of the 1981 firearms legislation, initiated by the last Conservative government, and the wider issue of private ownership of handguns effectively converged with the election last May of a Labour government committed to ban ownership of such weapons following the Dunblane tragedy.
Despite what they claim was "an understanding" that the "special circumstances of Northern Ireland" would be taken into account, unionist suspicions have grown that the North's security minister, Mr Adam Ingram, is inclined towards more sweeping proposals than the consolidation measure indicated by the original departmental review.
Mr David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, is understood to have pressed the issue during his meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, at Lancaster House in London last week.
Irrespective of the claimed "understanding" dating back to last September, sources say Mr Blair was asked to "look at the perceptions of this". The specific unionist perception was that any move to reduce the number of legally-held weapons would be in marked contrast to the failure to move on the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons in the context of the talks process.
The former minister of state in the North, Sir John Wheeler, initiated the review of the 1981 legislation in 1995. That review was primarily focused on "relics" from previous Acts, dating back to the 1960s and the 1920s, and concentrated on the need, among other things, to consolidate and update provisions defining categories of persons deemed unfit to hold firearms.
But the new government asked the review to have regard to the Cullen report which followed the Dunblane massacre, and to consider if there were any additional implications.
The Chief Constable of the RUC, in his last annual report, said there were 87,017 firearms certificates in issue in the North authorising the possession of about 134,086 weapons. An RUC spokeswoman indicated last night that about 80 per cent of those are shotguns and air weapons, with the balance comprising personal protection weapons.