Surge in handguns causing deaths

There has been a dramatic increase in gun crime in Dublin over the past four decades, with greater use of handguns resulting in more deaths.

The study, published in the Irish Medical Journal, looked at admissions to a hospital in west Dublin over a 10-year period.

It found that bullet wounds from handguns were more likely to kill people than shotgun injuries.

Also, victims are getting younger, with the average age falling from 31 to 27.

Those shot with handguns had bullet wounds around the torso, head and neck, while shotgun wounds tended to be in the arms and legs.

There were 65 patients with gunshot injuries seen in Connolly Hospital’s emergency department between 2001 and 2010.

The patients were aged between 15 and 52 — the mean age was 27 and there was one woman.

Some 29 were unemployed and 10 were from the Travelling community.

Eight patients died in the emergency department.

There was a 43% mortality rate from bullet wounds caused by high-velocity weapons, such as handguns, rifles and semi-automatic firearms, compared to 6% for low-velocity shotgun injuries.

The marked increase in high-velocity firearms has been widely attributed to increased gangland activity and the illegal drug trade.

Lead report author, Dr Ian Murphy, said that they compared figures with a 10-year review of gunshot injuries published in 1985.

Over the decade, 21 people were admitted to Connolly Hospital, with 20 out of 21 shot with shotguns — low-velocity weapons. Four of them died. “When we looked at what we had — 65 over a 10-year period from 2001 to 2010, it was a threefold increase over a couple of decades,” Dr Murphy said on RTÉ radio yesterday.

The report points out that medics were able to deal with patients with gunshot wounds.

But more resources and expertise might be needed if the current trend continued.

Despite an increase in gunshot injuries, the numbers in Ireland were still low by comparison with other developed countries.

Cook County Hospital in Chicago in 1995 showed it dealt with 476 gunshot wounds over a 10-year period, while Prince Mshyeni Memorial Hospital, Durban, South Africa examined 75 gunshot injuries in just six months.

In both of these countries, gun ownership is less stringently controlled than in Ireland.

Information from Northern Ireland during the Troubles showed that low-velocity weapons were used as “punishment” by paramilitary organisations.