Toronto police have seized almost 400 firearms with lapsed registrations in a six-month push aimed at reducing the number of guns on the city's streets.

In March, officers began soliciting people who owned firearms once registered across the city as part of what they call the Safe City Project. Many of those who had to surrender their firearms had either let their registrations lapse, or had stashed their guns improperly under beds or in closets.

Most had simply inherited the firearms, police said.

The Firearms Act stipulates guns must be stored in a secure place or be locked so that they are inoperable.

No charges were laid in the push, police said Tuesday.

Targeting people who had registered their guns is a preventative measure, said Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

"Legal handgun owners are not dangerous individuals," Blair told reporters at a Tuesday news conference. "But we know from experience that their firearms can become extremely dangerous when they get into the hands of criminals. And so we have undertaken a number of initiatives to reduce the availability of those handguns."

Police estimate there are still 4,000 guns in Ontario that are being improperly stored.

However, a critic says, the push to target registered gun owners is not getting at the root of the problem.

"The system doesn't work. It's broken. It doesn't target the right people," Greg Farrant, a spokesman for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, told CBC News. People who are barred from owning weapons are the ones who should be registered and tracked, he said.

There are about 2.3 million registered guns in Ontario.