Firearm-related incidents, such as drive-by shootings, every six days.

An increasing trend of children as young as 16 carrying guns.

Regularly finding guns in cars, including sawn-off shotguns and an automatic machine gun, during routine car intercepts.

Guns stolen from rural homes being used in violent crime in the north-west. Some 530 guns were stolen in rural Victoria in 2013. It comes as the Crime Statistics Agency released figures on Thursday showing an almost threefold jump in firearm offences in the north-west over the past five years, from 581 in the year to March 2011 to 1332 in the 12 months to April 2015. A similar trend was reported statewide, with firearm offences rising more than 50 per cent to 13,626. The figures follow recent high-profile shootings in which two men have been killed - one in Keysborough, the other in Altona Meadows - and significant gun seizures by police. In March, an automatic machine gun was found during a car intercept in Sunbury, and in February, an M16 assault rifle and Thureon machine gun were seized in raids on homes in the city's west.

Officers who work the beat in the region dub it the "red zone" because of its high crime rate. "I remember about two years ago, in 10 months we had 144 cases of a real gun being seen or used," one traffic officer, who didn't want to be named, said. "It's a status symbol to carry guns and there's a lot out there - they're tied to outlaw gangs that don't have problems getting a hold of one." North West Metro Region acting Commander Mick Hermans said his region carried the "lion's share" of reported crime due to its density and socio-economic disadvantage. It was also home to more bikie clubhouses and mid-level organised crime families, he said. "While I'm reticent to buy into the terminology 'gangster culture' it is obvious that carrying firearms is more often a part of the criminal culture we are observing," Commander Hermans said.

"This increase in firearm-related crime has been primarily restricted within a criminal community, but there is a significant risk for police members investigating or responding to such incidents and a concerning possibility that members of the public may be inadvertently caught-up in such activity." Thursday marked 30 years since the infamous "Mad Max" shootings in Melbourne, sparked by a car intercept that ended with seven police shot at and six wounded by rogue armed robber Pavel Marinof. Police Association secretary Ron Iddles said that even with this history, it had never been a more dangerous time for police conducting car intercepts than today. He said the statistics showed how critical it was for police to work in pairs, which is a new policy established by the force amid a heightened terrorism threat.

"This seems to have been centred around terrorism. What we say is, it's not about that, it's about a whole change in the landscape and the prevalence of firearms in the community. It's a good reason for members not working alone," Detective Senior Sergeant Iddles said. "If you're a businessman and you get 90 per cent of your decisions right, you're on the front cover of BRW. With police, you get 90 per cent of your decisions right and there's still a 10 per cent chance there will be a police funeral and the flag will be at half-mast." Australian Crime Commission conservatively estimated in 2012 there were 260,000 firearms in the illicit market, while Australians imported more than 1 million guns legally over the decade to 2013. Experts believe many of the guns in the black market were never handed in when the National Firearms Agreement was established in 1996 following the Port Arthur Massacre. With Chris Vedelago

GUNS AND THE RED ZONE February 3, 2015 M16 assault rifle and Thureon machine-gun seized in police raids on homes in Point Cook, Wyndham Vale, Tarneit and Werribee. Number of people arrested. Raids sparked after a $290,000 armed robbery of a cash transport van in Sunbury. April 19, 2am Khaled Abouhasna, 39, gunned down in his driveway in Altona Meadows. Under investigation. March 3, 6.30pm Handguns, long arms and an automatic machine-gun found by police in an intercepted Holden Commodore in Elizabeth Drive, Sunbury. A 23-year-old woman has been charged. May 21, 5.40pm A gym owner is shot at twice outside a house in Mockridge Avenue, Burnside, and survives. Under investigation.

May 31, 4.30pm Man shot in the leg in a road rage incident off the Western Highway near Bacchus Marsh. Two children in the car. Under investigation. June 10, 5.30pm Ali Duyar, 34, shot in a Bloomfield Road house in Doncaster and dies in hospital the next day. Three men fled the scene. Under investigation.