TOKYO, April 19 (Reuters) - Japan will speed up efforts to tighten gun control after the mayor of the southern city of Nagasaki was fatally gunned down by a suspected gangster this week, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Japan already has strict gun control laws, but the shooting of Itcho Ito on Tuesday has prompted some, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to call for even tighter controls.

The government and ruling coalition parties will aim to submit a bill to revise gun control legislation by the end of the current session of parliament on June 23, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Work had already been under way to revise the law but Ito's death has stepped up the urgency for tighter measures, the paper added.

Measures being considered include requiring guns to be labelled by authorities as they are imported, which could help police track down smuggled firearms from abroad.

"Japan already has some of the tightest controls in the world," Abe told reporters on Wednesday.

"But I think that control should be even more thorough."

Firearms in Japan are mostly in the hands of hunters or "yakuza" gangsters and shootings are rare.

Gun-related crime has also been on the decline, with the number of shootings falling to a record-low 53 last year.

Of those, 36 were suspected of involving yakuza. Only two resulted in deaths.

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