There has been a resurgence in recreational shooting and hunting in Queensland with the number of gun licence holders growing by more than 20,000 in the past decade.

The increase in gun licences is revealed in figures obtained by the ABC and is in line with similar trends in other states and territories.

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Since 2005, the number of licence holders has risen 15 per cent to 179,184 and the number of registered firearms has jumped more than 40 per cent to 757,184.

Sergeant Steve Steenstrup from the Queensland Police Weapons Licensing Branch said the figures show the system is working.

“We know that each person who is licensed is fit and proper and has a genuine need for each firearm they have,” Sergeant Steenstrup said.

“We encourage people who are involved in it to always engage with police and we’ve always found a good rapport with the genuine sport shooters.”

Last month, University of Sydney researchers revealed there are now more privately owned guns in Australia than at the time of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

Figures show fewer people applied for licences after the 2003 handgun buyback, but gun licensing rates have since rebounded.

Strong growth in number of young female recreational shooters

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia president Geoff Jones said the sport had become more appealing to young people.

“Because there’s been a change in demographic, the younger people coming through are not being satisfied to having one or two firearms,” he said.

“There are a whole raft of shooting discipline opportunities available to them and these younger people are more dynamic.”

Mr Jones said women made up one of the fastest growing categories, with membership in Queensland doubling in the past five years.

“They’re initially reluctant [but] they actually leave on something of a high,” he said.

“They really do take to it and their natural ability in many cases tends to be greater than that of men.”

Legal weapons can be used in crime: researcher

University of Queensland social scientist Dr Suzanna Fay-Ramirez said there could be a number of reasons behind the resurgence.

“It could be a fact that the law is working and people are choosing to comply with that,” she said.

Gun researcher Dr Suzanna Fay-Ramirez said licensing had to remain rigorous. ABC

“In many places in Australia, there’s a bit more political power among gun groups that have made it easier to acquire more weapons, and more weapons under the same licence.

“The other thing is, there’s been a change in marketing in recreational shooting — so now you can go to a rifle range and try out recreational shooting to see if you like it without a whole lot of red tape.

“What that does is open up the recreational shooting sport to a number of people who might otherwise not have tried it.”

Dr Fay-Ramirez said the resurgence was not necessarily a concern, so long as gun licensing remained rigorous.

“There is some capacity for legal weapons to be used in a commission of a crime.

“My research at the moment is trying to answer some of those questions — what kinds of guns pose the biggest kind of risk to crime, homicide or suicide and other types of violent crimes.”

The latest figures show the number illegal firearms seized each year is also on the rise, most noticeably after 2013 when the crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs began.

Last year, police confiscated 3,057 weapons, nearly double the number of confiscations in 2010.