THE NUMBER of legally held guns in Hampshire has increased over the last decade.

Newly released figures from the Home Office show that in March this year, there were 19,365 licensed firearms in the area, up from 16,797 in 2009.

The number excludes shotguns, which are licensed separately.

It means there are 983 firearms for every 100,000 people in Hampshire, an increase of 9% from March 2009, when local records were first collated.

In total, 5,461 valid firearm licences in Hampshire covered an average of 3.5 guns each.

There were a further 51,129 licensed shotguns in the area - also a slight increase on a decade ago.

Gill Marshall-Andrews, chairwoman of the Gun Control Network, said: "We campaign strongly for tighter licensing laws and those have been introduced, by and large. It is becoming more difficult to get a gun licence, so I have no idea why it has gone up.

"Unless we are going to say that nobody should have a gun - and we have never said that - you should have a good reason to own a gun, and you should be a proper person. The guidance is stricter and the licensing regulations, if properly applied, should mean that fewer people have a gun."

Between April 2017 and March this year, there were 358 new applications for firearm licences in Hampshire.