The number of gun licences in the Netherlands fell for the fourth year in a row in 2015 and now stands at just over 72,000, broadcaster Nos said on Monday.

Nos used freedom of information legislation to obtain the figures. Last year, 88 licences were refused and a further 186 were withdrawn. That is well below the peak in 2012 when 346 people lost their licence to own a gun.

The gun licencing process was revised in 2011 in the wake of the Alphen aan den Rijn supermarket shooting in which Tristan van der Vlis shot dead six people and then turned his gun on himself. His gun licence had been approved despite his known psychiatric problems.

Applicants are now screened for criminal records, aggressive behaviour and radicalisation.