Gun crime in EU kills 1,000 a year

Gun crime is reaching alarming proportions throughout the EU with weapons used not just to kill and maim more than 1,000 people a year, but to intimidate victims of trafficking and robbery.

Gardaí have seized an average of 900 illegally held guns a year in Ireland since 2005, while close to 500,000 arms have been lost or stolen throughout the EU, according to research carried out by the European Commission.

It is making a case for EU-wide regulations to control weapons which, it said, would not affect the 2m firearms held legally for sports such as hunting.

Up to 20% of arms held by civilians, military, and police go missing each year while there is an influx from troubled regions of the world such as Libya where governments armed regimes and rebels.

Now there is a new threat from 3D printing which can produce useable guns that can not only kill but can be smuggled through security systems at airports and buildings.

And there are increasing reports of criminals sending parts of weapons by regular mail, to be reassembled by the buyer.

In Ireland, 87% of people have never owned a weapon, slightly more than the EU average of 90%, while 5% said they currently own a gun with half saying it was for hunting and 10% citing personal protection.

The problems are numerous, said Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs. She said issues included licences being issued to unstable adults, such as happened in two Finnish schools recently.

While gun legislation is strong and functioning in many EU states, differences between national legislation makes it easier for organised crime groups and terrorists to exploit gaps in legal supply chains to get weapons and ammunition, she said.

The commission has a range of ideas to reduce the threat of guns getting into the wrong hands from the time of production, through sale, possession, trade, and deactivation.

One plan is to ensure particularly dangerous weapons don’t get into civilian hands at all while another is to mark firearms with indelible serial numbers that will help trace them and their use.

Procedures for licencing people to have a weapon need to be tightened up while the online sale of weapons or 3D printing of weapons and ammunitions need to be stopped together with postal deliveries.

And every country should have similar punishment for breaking laws on weapons so there are no legal loopholes for traffickers, said Ms Malmström.

Support for EU action by the Irish questioned was very high at 90% while almost three quarters said they expected an increase in the level of crime involving guns and describing the current level of gun crime as “very high” in Ireland.

Illegal gun trafficking is a highly lucrative trade generating between €125m to €236m a year globally, which represents up to 20% of the total trade in legal firearms, and covers only portable firearms.