Martin Scorsese backs call for directors to destroy a gun every time a fake appears on film

Carl McCrow has had his idea taken up by the 72-year-old Oscar winner

'These guns work for up to 70 years. They can kill a lot of people' (Ali Mere) (Ali Mere)

A British artist who called on the world’s most successful film-makers to destroy a real gun every time a fake one appears in their movies has had his idea embraced by Hollywood director Martin Scorsese.

The artist Carl McCrow has had his idea taken up by the 72-year-old Oscar winner's production Tomorrow, starring Stephen Fry. McCrow said Scorsese’s support for his Gun Neutral campaign was quite a coup.

“I’m really pleased,” he told The Independent. “If we can set this as a standard then who knows how many lives could be saved.

“The simple fact is that there are too many guns and they ruin people’s lives every day,” Mr McCrow said.

“These guns can keep working for up to 70 years. That’s a lot of people they can potentially kill in that time.”

Mr McCrow said he was not trying to remove guns from films.

He still enjoys a good war movie and the “guilty pleasure” of playing the Call of Duty computer game with his teenage daughter, he said.

Instead, he is hoping to emulate carbon-offsetting schemes in which people plant trees or invest in other environment projects to offset their carbon footprint. To do this, he is asking film producers to donate money to One Less Gun, his registered charity that helps to decommission weapons left behind in former war zones.

Members of the public can also make a £5 donation to the charity by texting 70007. They will receive a bullet with the serial number of the destroyed weapon on it.

McCrow’s call to disarm came after the launch last week of his new exhibition at London’s Oxo Tower, also entitled One Less Gun, which runs until 6 September.

It was shipped in from New York where he has a permanent residency at the city’s Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery. He said that the pop star Rhianna was among those who have purchased his works that have fetched thousands of pounds.