ACCORDING TO figures provided by the Department of Justice, some 305 gun licences were granted in a 12-month period to mid-2005. This increased almost six-fold to 1,787 in the corresponding period ending in 2008.
Some 218,000 guns are licenced in total in the State, the vast majority being shotguns.
In recent years, as the number of gangland murders have increased, handguns rather than shotguns have been used by the killers.
Mr Charleton said a “sensible view” on granting firearms needed to take into account the current murder and suicide rate as well as Ireland’s growing gun culture.
Gardaí are witnessing greater use of handguns in drive-by shootings, where houses are shot at from passing cars.
Handguns are much more dangerous than shotguns in these attacks.
Pellets from a shotgun cartridge spray or disperse if fired at a target some distance away, greatly reducing the chance of causing serious injury or death. Bullets from handguns do not break up and travel at much faster speeds than shotgun pellets.
