OVER THE LAST three years, hundreds of gun licences have been revoked in this country.

As of 28 of March 2014, the number of non-restricted handgun licences stood at 1,076 and the number of restricted handgun licences at 590. As of February 2014 there were 178,191 firearms certificates across the state for all types of firearms.

According to firearms legislation, a licence can be revoked for a number of reasons, including the person has ‘no good reason for requiring the firearm’ or for ‘public safety/peace’.

Figures provided to TD Tommy Broughan following a parliamentary question show 141 firearms licences were revoked in 2013, 112 in 2014 and 82 last year.

Most of these were for shotguns. A dozen of them were for semi-automatic pistols.

Here’s a full breakdown:

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In 2014, the number of certificates in existence across the country was 205,000.

In November last year, the report of a working group tasked with reviewing gun licensing states that there had been 2,198 reported incidents involving firearms between 2009 and February 2014.

Though Broughan noted there as been a drop in gun crime figures in previous years, he said we still need to ensure legislation is robust enough to ensure guns “do not fall into the wrong hands”.

Last Autumn Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said that changes to legislation would include the establishment of a firearms assessment and appeals authority, that there would be a centralised licensing system for restricted firearms and that the Garda Inspectorate would have the powers to review licences.

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