Gardaí to seize 3,000 guns under amnesty

GARDAÍ expect more than 3,000 illegal firearms will be handed over in the up-coming amnesty ahead of tough new anti-gun laws.

Automatic minimum jail terms of between five and 10 years for a range of weapons’ offences are set to be approved by the Oireachtas before the summer as part of the Criminal Justice Bill.

The move is aimed at cracking down on Ireland’s spiralling “gun culture” which left 19 people dead last year in gangland shootings alone.