The state issued 3,020 firearm licences between 2017 and 2023 and more than a third of these were issued in one year alone – 2021.
At Wednesday’s sitting of the National Assembly, the answers to questions posed by APNU+AFC MP David Patterson to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn were circulated.
Patterson had asked Benn for disaggregated information by year for all calibres of licences issued for the period 2017 to September 2023.
Benn listed three categories: pistols/revolvers, shotguns and rifles. For 2017, 266 licences were issued for pistols/revolvers, 150 for shotguns and 33 rifles. The total figure for 2018 was 604, 254 for 2019 and 428 for 2020.
It was 2021 – the first full year of the PPP/C government – that will likely raise eyebrows. The figures presented by Benn showed that licences for 663 pistols and revolvers were issued, 201 for shotguns and 147 for rifles. There was no explanation of the spike in licences granted for pistols/revolvers.