THE number of legally held guns in Dyfed-Powys has increased over the last decade.

Newly-released figures from the Home Office show that in March this year, there were 13,129 licensed firearms in the area, up from 11,593 in 2009. The number excludes shotguns, which are licensed separately.

It means there are 2,545 firearms for every 100,000 people in Dyfed-Powys, an increase of 12 per cent from March 2009, when local records were first collated. It is the highest rate at any point over the last decade.

The firearm rate in Dyfed-Powys was higher than that across England and Wales, where 578,000 firearms - 989 for every 100,000 people - were licensed.

In total, 4,569 valid firearm licences in Dyfed-Powys covered an average of 2.9 guns each.

There were a further 35,787 licensed shotguns in the area - a decrease on a decade ago.

Gill Marshall-Andrews, chairman of the Gun Control Network, said that society should be working towards fewer guns, and that the rise in legal firearms was difficult to explain.

She said: “We campaign strongly for tighter licensing laws and those have been introduced, by and large. It is becoming more difficult to get a gun licence, so I have no idea why it has gone up.

“Unless we are going to say that nobody should have a gun - and we have never said that - you should have a good reason to own a gun, and you should be a proper person. The guidance is stricter and the licensing regulations, if properly applied, should mean that fewer people have a gun.

“For years and years, the shooting lobby has said that gun crime it is just a matter of illegal weapons, but it is not true to say that gun deaths are related to illegal weapons alone.”

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