News | Sunday, 26 April 2009

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Firearms shoot up - 18,782 sold in four years

18,782 firearms were sold between January 2005 and March 2009, home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici revealed in parliament last week.
Unlike Americans, the Maltese have no constitutional right to bear arms and carrying weapons for self-defence is not permissible at law.
But in 2007, 1,496 pistols, 438 revolvers and 602 shotguns were registered.
Only last year, Mifsud Bonnici announced plans to amend current legislation to ensure that “any loopholes in the system are addressed and abuses curtailed.”
All firearms in Malta are scheduled and licensed separately according to four different categories. Two kinds of licences exist for those keeping weapons for collection purposes. Target shooter ‘licence A’ is issued for pistols, revolvers and rifles used for sporting purposes, and target shooter ‘licence B’ is issued for airguns used in clay pigeon shooting practice.
The law doesn’t provide for the use of any of these weapons for self-defence purposes. The 2006 Weapons Act facilitated the practice of sport shooting in Malta and regularised the practice of weapon collection.
But the introduction of this law has seen a surge in the amount of firearms registered in the country. Last year, a government spokesperson told MaltaToday thegovernment was considering a reduction in the amounts of ammunition rounds that can be stored by individuals.

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