West Midlands Police has rejected claims the region has become the gun crime capital of England and Wales
Speaking at a meeting of the Police and said the region was not the “wild West Midlands”.
Mr Jamieson was responding to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which showed there were 41 more firearm offences here last year than in the previous year.
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The figures, which excluded air weapons, recorded 540 West Midlands incidents in 2013/14 compared to 499 in 2012/13.
It means total gun crimes – as measured against 100,000 people – is now marginally higher than the capital’s figure.
However, both the commissioner and Deputy Chief Constable David Thompson rejected the “gun capital” tag.
The meeting heard the last murder or manslaughter involving a firearm was in October 2013 and police had not fired a weapon themselves since 2002.
Mr Jamieson said: “ it is not exactly the wild West Midlands. When I think of gun crime statistics, I think the key is which ones were genuine firearms, how often are they discharged and how many fatalities there have been.
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“I think how many times a gun is fired is a far better way of measuring gun crime, than the measure used which covers all incidents where a gun is suspected by the victim of being present, whether or not a gun was actually there.
“Even on that measure of gun crime it’s half as much as in 2007/08 and there are far fewer fatalities.
“But it is not my job to compare the West Midlands with other forces or to argue over the statistics, it is my job to tackle crime here and we are not complacent in the slightest.
“In tackling crime I have made economic development one of West Midlands Police’s priorities for the next year and was pleased to be backed by the Birmingham Post on that recently.
“I want all of the region’s media and communities to join me in a campaign to show to everyone that the West Midlands is a great place to live, work and grow a business.”
The meeting heard the ONS figures included weapons like stun guns, imitation firearms and CS gas.
Deputy Chief Constable David Thompson said: “Gun crime has been declining. It is still an important priority for the force but when you look at the amount of times that a gun has been discharged it’s a more positive picture.
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“We are not awash with people being shot day in and day out, but we can .”
The ONS figures showed one in nine incidents of gun crime in England and Wales took place in the West Midlands last year, a higher rate than Greater London.
The capital’s previous figure of 2,000 incidents has dropped by nearly 400 from 23.6 incidents per 100,000 to 19.0. The West Midlands has now overtaken the London figure with a rate of 19.4.
Across England and Wales there has been a five per cent drop in gun crime in the past 12 months and the figures have nearly halved in the West Midlands since 2007/08 when there were 974 incidents.
The latest figure of 7,714 firearms offences represents a fall of more than two-thirds (68 per cent) since 2003/04.