Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Can the Minister provide further clarification on handguns? He stated that 2,200 guns were seized, which works out at 550 per annum over four years. That is a colossal number of weapons. Do gardaí have any idea where all those weapons came from? How many of them were licensed? Why would anybody need to have a licensed handgun, unless he or she is a pistol shooting competitor? Shotguns are used for hunting, so where are all those handguns coming from? Is it that the huge amount of drugs coming into the country are accompanied by a supply of handguns? Is this why they are finding their way to a lower age group? Does the leadership of the Garda have any opinion on this matter? There is very little ground for legally held handguns, so where are they all coming from?

We have already had the appalling vista of endemic gangland crime, as this is the 20th fatal shooting this year. However, in this case, an innocent victim in the privacy of his own home was targeted following a petty dispute and a handgun was used to kill him. Nothing that the Minister has said relieves that appalling vista. How could such a quantity of guns be seized? What percentage of them would have been legally held? Is the situation so bad that they are two a penny in this country?

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