More than 80 percent of the guns in The Bahamas that should be licensed are kept illegally, a study on guns in the country has estimated."It appears that the majority of firearms are kept in breach of licenses. Even if the firearm is licensed, if its primary purpose is not for hunting, as in the case of shotguns and rifles, then the firearm is being kept in breach of its permit,"said the study, which is the second of a three-part study on guns in the country.

The research, which was presented on Thursday at The College of The Bahamas'Violence Symposium, examined the types of guns owned and used by 238 residents of The Bahamas.

Overall, of the weapons--25 rifles, 31 handguns, and 182 shotguns--82.8 percent were kept illegally.

The study shows thatâEUR^68 percent of the rifles, 96.8 percent of the handguns and 82.4 percent of the shotguns were kept illegally.

The report notes that the law requires all firearms to be licensed and states that firearms must be kept unloaded and in a locked safe when not in use.

However, the data collected during the study indicates that firearms were kept in a diverse selection of places around the home, in vehicles and hidden outside the home.

Bedrooms and closets were popular places for storing firearms. These places are consistent with easy access in case of the need to protect the home as opposed to the hunting purposes which they were licensed for, the study notes.

The study reveals that almost 30 percent of the firearms were kept loaded, and 18.1 percent of respondents were not sure if the firearm was kept loaded, thus the percentage could be as high as 47.5 percent.

"The data above indicates that many guns were not kept in a safe, or even under lock and key or unloaded when not in use,"it says.

"When consideration was made as to whether or not the weapon was (a) licensed, (b) kept under lock and key and (c) kept unloaded and (d) kept primarily for hunting, the majority of rifles and shotguns were also being kept illegally," the study notes.

In 2010, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade revealed that there were 15,545 licensed shotguns and 1,565 rifles. He did not provide statistics on the number of handguns. However, based on the calculation in the study there could be up to 3,000 such firearms.

"We note that 13 percent of the guns in our sample were handguns as opposed to 10.5 percent which were rifles and 76.5 percent which were shotguns," the study says.

"If the figure of 10.5 percent corresponds to the number of rifles (1,565), and the 76.5 percent corresponds to the number of shotguns, then we can estimate the handgun population to be between 2,000 and 3,000, taking into account that not all rifles and shotguns are licensed.

"As would be expected, none of the handguns were used for hunting, and so points to the fact that these guns are exclusively used to protect the owner, his or her family and possessions, and/or may even be used in criminal activities."

The study suggests that guns that are kept illegally should be confiscated or the premises where the guns are stored need to be inspected to ensure that the weapons are safely kept.

"It is apparent that the present situation is contradictory," the study says.

"Many people are keeping weapons in breach of the law because the crime rate has become such that non-criminal citizens feel they must own a gun for their and their family's own protection, thus the debate ensues regarding whether there should be legalization of gun ownership for self-protection."

COB Professors Dr. Marie Carroll, Dr. Shane Brennen and Dr. Stephanie Hutcheson conducted the research.

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