The Garda & Handguns

[RobertW]

A sentence that perfectly encapsulates the quality of poster you are.

F**k you.

Who are you in anyway and what are your qualities apart from behaving like a total pr!ck continuously on this site?

Get rid of the Baldwin avatar by the way and go back to your muppet avatar.

[Luachara]

I helped my father with the paperwork as he was the gunclub secretary.

Every single weapon back then had more numbers than just calibre.

In my cousins case the problem the gardai had, was that it fired a type of magnum shell.

When filling out the paperwork up to 15 years ago for guns for gunclub members, I had to not only write 12 bore, 20 bore or whatever, but also chamber length of 2 3/4 or 3 inch chambers as well as barrel length, year of manufacture, date purchased and a whole host of other stuff. If it was older than a certain age a lot of tick boxes were ticked.

The 09 in the case of my cousins rifle could have mean't anything. It was just a reference as far as I was concerned. The local gardai seargant was very unhappy about it being able to fire a type of magnum cartridge. Any rifle that went through the gunclub has various numbers after the calibre.

Also I dealt with the guns in real life, not through links on the internet.

I suggest you join a gun club and you might learn something about the subject, instead of looking at pretty pictures on the internet.

You did not deal with the guns in real life as you had no license to do so. Anyone with a basic knowledge would know there never was a .22-09 as you keep ranting on about. There would be no reason to be doing paperwork as you claim.

You are bluffing

[Heligoland]

F**k you.

Who are you in anyway and what are your qualities apart from behaving like a total pr!ck continuously on this site?

Get rid of the Baldwin avatar by the way and go back to your muppet avatar.

Weirdly, although this is off topic, it is a good argument for gun control.

[Eric O'Riordan]

As someone raised in a family that has been the core of a local gunclub in Ireland for 50 years, I vehemently oppose private ownership of handguns.

This does not make you any kind of expert on guns, especially when you constantly reference non-existant calibres and regulations that were usually the local Super's preferences rather than any guideline from DoJ.

Handguns should only be allowed in target practice ranges, under very strict guidelines, under the control of the military or gardai response unit. There is no excuse for a handgun being in the home.

Pistol shooting is a legitimate sport, in some cases an Olympic sport. In a country the size of ours the chances of doing well in shooting and boxing are much better than Track and Field sports or Gymnastics for example. Irish shooters historically placed well in competition, and hopefully will do so again when they are allowed to compete without nonsensical restrictions.

Handguns have no place in hunting, farm protection against vermin or the home.

And licences will not be issued for those reasons.

The only guns that should be allowed in the home should be shotguns for which there is a place in hunting, vermin control and if necessary to repel an intruder.

Tell the Garda you want a shotgun for home defense and see how long it takes to be denied a licence!

I have known people in various countries who have handguns at home and I think out of the numerous people I have met who do own them, I only thought one of them should have been allowed to have them and he was a serious weapon collector. In my experience handguns tend to appeal to gun nuts, people who think they are hard men, criminals and complete and utter morons.

I would make an exemption for people involved in target shooting who can be proven to be taking part in competitions, but would prefer that there pistols be kept at a firing range or Gardai station when not in use. I would support yearly eyesight and medical review for them and revoke licences if they show any signs of mental disorders.

So which is it? Nutters or sportsmen? Most lads who I know with handgun licences were previously licenced on shotguns/rifles and were just exploring the chance to partake in other shooting disciplines when the chance came up. Someone with no history in the sport applying for a handgun straight off the bat won't get far. Far from your assertion of "Hard Men", the shooters I know are the most law abiding, most heavily vetted and carefully controlled lads in the country. The Gardai do not issue licences to just anyone.

Also I do firmly believe that the guidelines for who owns a rifle in Ireland needs to be tightened up considerably. I know of too many halfwits who should not be allowed out on there own, let alone having a .22-09 in the house.

They have been tightened up and there is no such calibre as .22-09.

Another thing that really needs to be tightened up as a national priority is the Gardai checking of gun clubs issueing gun club cards. A lot of morons do not pay there renewal to gun clubs the year after in some areas where there are lazy gardai sargents who do not do the proper checks. I know some will claim I am talking sh*t on that one, but others here who are members of gun clubs, will know full well what I am talking about.

If anyone does not pay there gun club dues the next year, the Gardai should not have to be called about 50 times by the gun club before reacting, if they even do. The Gardai should react upon first notification and seize the weapon.

Why? If the person has shooting granted on other lands, not being a gun club member is no reason to revoke their licence. I was secretary of a gun club long enough to know lads who were only looking for membership to get a licence.

Also Gardai inspectors need to get into the heads of there sargents that just because they drink in a pub with someone, play gaelic, play hurling, is a friend of the priest, etc, does not mean that person is fit to carry a gun.

Again the requirements are set out, but once those are met and the gun is legal, there is no reason not to issue the licence because they don't like the look of your gun or don't want so many guns in the town.

Back in the day, .22-250 was one of the more common calibres for deer hunting, my Father used a 5.6x57. Years later I licensed a .270 Win. for deer hunting and a .220 Swift for fox hunting. If lads can show a need these days they can licence .308, .300 Win. Mag or .338 Lapua magnum. F Class long distance rifle shooting is a valid sport, and as long as the requirements are met, then lads should be free to pursue it.

I refer you to the Dail questions that the National Target Shooting Association have asked in the past of the Minister for Justice, seeking proof of the anonymously made allegation that stolen licensed firearms were being used in crime. The response was that the Gardai did not track such things, and that the Minister was of the opinion, as were the Gardai, that licensed firearms in Ireland were not of any concern to the public safety.

Given that we have been engaged in competitive target shooting in Ireland since 1840 without injury, a claim that can't be made about most other sports . We were somewhat unsurprised by this answer. We remain surprised, however, at the number of times the claim is put forward by anonymous sources, and by the number of times it is printed by newspapers without being checked for accuracy.

That a serious problem with gun crime exists is not up for debate. It is a fact. It is likewise a fact that our rising problem of gun violence is caused by feuds between illegal drug gangs which threaten all of us in the general public. Legitimate Olympic and other sports, legitimate hunting and legitimate agricultural use of firearms, all of which are licensed and controlled more strictly than in any other country in the EU, is not only not the problem; the expertise of those in these areas is a vital resource for fixing the problem. The NTSA has given the Minister for Justice a proposal to reform firearms licensing that would increase the amount of control and information that the Department of Justice and the Gardai have over licensed firearms holders; while simultaneously reducing Garda workload by over 92%, freeing up several tens of thousands of Garda man-hours for the fight against gun crime, and freeing up several tens of thousands of our man-hours to pursue an Olympic gold medal for Ireland in Bejing.

Mark Dennehy, Secretary
National Target Shooting Association ltd.

[nevermindhi]

Does your care worker know you have access to a computer ??

of course he does...were both members of the kevin walsh fan club

[Grumpy Jack]

Can someone please explain why anyone who is not a member of the Gardai or the Defence Forces - or a criminal or terrorist - needs to have a Glock, SIG-Sauer or Heckler and Koch pistol?

All are police/military handguns and all have been subjects of licence applications in recent years.

[RobertW]

Weirdly, although this is off topic, it is a good argument for gun control.

I thought that little D4 faggot would be getting ready for his rugger tomorrow!

[Hitch 22]

.22-09: Type of .22 rifle. It was the maximum limit for rifles in Ireland some years ago. Not sure if it still is as I have not done any gunclub paperwork for dad in years.

Handguns are more likely to result in someone in the home being injured or a kid getting there hands on them, than anything else. I refer you to the USA for evidence of that.

I could do more damage with two number BB cartidges than you could with an entire magazine in a browning 9mm. Then again I was raised around shotguns as was my mum who is a brilliant shot.

One of the shotguns in my fathers home is unchocked. A slug can do more damage than a 50 calibre bullet.

There is nearly always a box of BB cartidges in our gun cabinet and a couple of slugs which were bought years ago for reasons I never understood and never used, as there are no dinosaurs in Donegal.

Does your average thief breaking into a home wear armour from a Tiger Tank? If not they would be cut in two by a slug which would go through a bullet proof jacket as though it was crepe paper. A bullet proof jacket would only cause a slug to flatten out a bit, as it went through it, making it do even more damage to the person it was hitting. A slug hitting an arm or leg would disintegrate that part of the arm or leg, ripping it off and if it hit the chest, would excavate the entire chest cavity. The possibility of surviving a direct hit from a slug would be about zero.

You clearly haven't a clue what you are talking about.

[Munnkeyman]

F**k you.

Who are you in anyway and what are your qualities apart from behaving like a total pr!ck continuously on this site?

Get rid of the Baldwin avatar by the way and go back to your muppet avatar.

I thought that little D4 faggot would be getting ready for his rugger tomorrow!

Take a deep breath and relax the cacks.

[de valera's' giddy goat]

i thought this was about the guards being issued with handguns, thankfully thats not the case