Gardaí are recommending that all handguns, except those used for Olympic sport, are banned under proposed new legislation.

Members of the working group on the review of gun laws in Ireland were before the Oireachtas Justice Committee today with their report and findings.

More than 200,000 guns are legally held in Ireland but 1134 of those have been stolen in the last four years.

One of those guns was used in the gangland murder of the Corbally Brothers in Neilstown in West Dublin in 2010.

Chief Superintendent Fergus Healy told the committee that gun owners here are being targeted by crime gangs.

"People who have possession of these guns are a legitimate target of organised criminals," he said.

"They have possession of these weapons lawfully, but in effect there are burglaries, thefts, people are careless with them sometimes, they might leave them down … in one case we have a report where a person left a high-velocity rifle in a car!

"The car was broken into and the rifle was taken from a public car park here in Dublin."