Gun owners question Garda firearms claims

Gun owners have accused gardaí of hiding information on firearm thefts to make the threat to public safety appear worse.

They told TDs and Senators that official reports of one firearm being stolen for every day of the year and one lost for each week obscured the likelihood that many were antiques, decommissioned models, starter pistols that fire blanks, and guns missing from members of the defence forces and gardaí, themselves.

The gun lobby is campaigning to stop the proposed tightening of restrictions on gun ownership, following recommendations from senior gardaí to the Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald that all handguns and many licensed rifles be banned because of fears of they could be used by criminal gangs or in mass shootings.