The Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters has been promoting the collection and restoration of historical and collectible firearms, and of target shooting disciplines, since 1985. Target shooting is one of the safest sports disciplines, simply because enthusiasts work very hard to keep it so.

As such, references to firearms legally owned for target shooting and collecting purposes in the context of an article (January 2) on murder and criminal activity seems to us to be totally inappropriate.

The article contains a number of factual errors, such as the insinuation that Malta has four times the rate of gun-related murders of the UK, which is highly misleading. Eurostat figures show that Malta has a homicide rate which is actually similar to that in the UK, even though the UK has banned civilian firearm ownership.

The homicide rate in Scotland, where the firearms law is similar to the UK, is actually much higher.

The University of Sydney surveys global firearm ownership and national regulations in order to prevent firearm violence. Maltese civilian firearms ownership is below the European average. There are 12 firearms per 100 people (EU average is 15.8), so that our country ranks 156 out of 178 countries worldwide.

Malta has very restrictive laws, and citizens do not have a legal right to bear arms but may apply for a firearms permit for sporting use, hunting or collecting. Applicants must pass a rigorous due diligence test before being issued a firearms target shooter or collector licence.

Excellent collaboration exists between collector and target shooter associations and the police as the regulator, and each independently screens applicants before recommending the approval of such licences. Crime with firearms registered to target shooters or collectors is unheard of in Malta.

As such we would like to invite the Times of Malta to treat illegal firearm ownership as such, and avoid making explicit or implicit links between legitimate firearm collectors and target shooters and those who illegally obtain military specification assault rifles for criminal purposes.

Modern automatic firearms are illegal to own by any individual in Malta, with the exception of members of the police and the army. Collectors are only licensed to collect such firearms conditional to their being over 70 years old (manufactured before 1946). One may not legally own a fully-automatic assault rifle similar to the ones recently used in local crimes, such as an AK-47.

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