Killer granted numerous gun licences by gardaí despite criminal convictions

TRAGIC LOSS: Geraldine Rafferty and Rita Duffy, sisters of James Hughes, who was shot dead in Dundalk, Co Louth, in 2011. Photo: Arthur Carron

November 15 2020 02:30 AM

---

One in eight households in Ireland possesses a legally held firearm, prompting a murder victim’s family to call on Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to immediately review Garda policy when granting gun licences.

New figures released to the Sunday Independent from Garda Headquarters reveal that there are just under 205,000 licensed guns in the country. This equates to one in eight households having a legally held weapon.

Rita Duffy, the sister of innocent gun victim James Hughes, has now directly appealed to Commissioner Harris to urgently review the Garda system of granting gun licences. Her brother’s killer, Shane Rogers, had been granted numerous gun licences by gardaí. He should have been prohibited from doing so, his victim’s family believe, as the 32-year-old had amassed numerous criminal convictions by the time he committed murder.