3700 granted gun licences in force area

NEARLY 3700 people in Lothian and Borders have been granted certificates to hold firearms, new figures have revealed.

The figures, released by the Scottish Government, showed that 3672 firearms certificates were "on issue" in the force area at the end of last year.

These included 176 new certificates which were granted during the year. In total just eight people who had put forward an application were refused. Only one person who tried to renew their certificate was refused permission.

During the period, 179 firearms certificates were cancelled in Lothian and Borders.

Across the whole of Scotland, 26,035 certificates were on issue, a decrease of 0.1 per cent on the previous year, and five per cent lower than the figure for 2001.

Northern Constabulary had the highest number of certificates at 6685, while Grampian was in second place with 4571, and Strathclyde was third with 3819.

The number of actual firearms on certificate across the country in 2010 was 70,410.

A total of 337 firearms dealers are registered in Scotland.