That person - in the 2518 postcode - ranks 25^th on the NSW list of the number of guns owned by an individual.

A resident in the 2519 postcode, which includes Balgownie and Fairy Meadow - comes in at 46^th place with 111 firearms.

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Across the Illawarra, there are 18,279 registered guns, according to the data which was released by Greens MP David Shoebridge.

The release of the statistics - which list the number of registered guns in each postcode - caused concern for Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia (SSAA) Illawarra branch president Chris Sainsbury because he believed it could act as a "shopping list" for criminals.

The Illawarra postcode with the highest number of firearms is 2530 (including Dapto and Horsley) at 3394 - an average of seven guns per licence holder.

Second on the list was the 2527 postcode (Albion Park, Tullimbar) with 2463 and the more urban postcode of 2500 (Wollongong, Keiraville, Mangerton) rounded out the top three with 1600 registered firearms.

The postcode with the least number of firearms is the Port Kembla 2505 area with just 266 - no surprise given the steelworks takes up most of that area.

Mr Shoebridge said the high number of guns owned both in the Illawarra and across the state was "concerning".

He said guns, unlike other products, weren't consumed and "they don't wear out".

"Once a gun is in circulation it continues almost forever," Mr Shoebridge said.

He said a person needed a good reason to buy a gun but could then use that same reason over and over to acquire more weapons.

"The development of private arsenals with hundreds of guns in suburbs around NSW is a real concern for local communities who think gun laws should protect them against this," he said.

The SSAA president, Mr Sainsbury was not in favour of seeing this sort of data released.

"Firearms have a stigma attached to them but we're faced with a number of safe storage requirements in regards to the safekeeping of our firearms," Mr Sainsbury said.

"Myself and the members see absolutely no benefit to be gained from publishing how many firearms there are in a postcode, it just creates a shopping list for criminals."

While he acknowledged the data only identified postcodes and not specific addresses, Mr Sainsbury said that criminals knowing how many guns were in, say the Dapto area, would treat the place "like a lucky dip".

"They know there are 3300 registered firearms, all that does is criminals will start to go around and randomly target individual houses," he said.

Mr Sainsbury suggested the growing population of the area could explain why it has more guns than anywhere else in the Illawarra.

He also said the owner of the 141 firearms in the 2518 postcode was a collector whose weapons did not fire.

"They've been deactivated - they're classified as inert firearms," he said. "They're no longer active or able to be used."

Mr Sainsbury said statistically, there were more firearms in ownership now than prior to 1996, when the guns laws were changed in the wake of the Port Arthur shootings.

"Also statistics show that there has been no massive increase in firearm-related crime," he said. "We're not seeing massive increases in homicide rates or robberies involving a firearm."

Note: Not all suburbs are listed in each postcode