I also applied for nightvision sights ands I made extensive submissions pertaining to my paticular reasons to justify my need!

I received no indication on the actual licence nor did I receive and attached 'conditions' stating that I was not allowed to use such devices save to say that it was outlined in the grant letter that "night time shooting can only be carried out to protect livestock", which happened to be one of my submission points in the first place!

Just to state for "pig-iron", sights won't be denoted by a second 'S' as it would lead to all types of confusion. Also sights fall into the legal quagmire in a slightly different way as opposed to silencers!
Silencers originally required written permission and they prob still do hence the inclusion of an 's' been a form of written permission but i it was originally only meant to be issued for one year.
Sights and other accessiories including anything from day-scopes (& NV scopes) to component parts being spares are all deemed as firearm components. Now as such we all know that owning a spares does not require addition written permission as you are covered by you standard licence and it's my opinion that all scopes are classed similarly such that possession of any scope without a firearms licence will or could land you in pooh.

Zxthinger wrote: »

sights fall into the legal quagmire in a slightly different way as opposed to silencers!

Actually, NV scopes and thermal scopes (seriously, does anyone use thermal scopes or was this another case of the Dail debate being more informed by Frederick Forsyth than reality?) are in exactly the same legal situation as silencers - both are legally covered by part (g) of the definition of firearm in section one of the Act.

Silencers originally required written permission and they prob still do

Strictly speaking they need either a full-blown licence or an authorisation - but it's easier for the Gardai to do the authorisation, so it's done that way and signified by the "S" on your licence (and which lasts for the full three years as opposed to the old permissions which lasted one year, but back then your licence only lasted a year anyway).

Sights and other accessiories including anything from day-scopes (& NV scopes) to component parts being spares are all deemed as firearm components.

Worse than that, they're all deemed as firearms in and of themselves. Except perhaps the normal scope, because that's not a component part of a firearm and there's no special case law about it.

Now as such we all know that owning a spares does not require addition written permission as you are covered by you standard licence

That does rather depend on the spare part, and the viewpoint of the Garda looking at it. Spare barrels, for example, are handled specially (the rule boils down to you being allowed one), while at some point (probably around the point where you start having a spare action) you'll hit the "Now you're taking the piss" line and then you'll get a paddlin'.

The thing to keep in mind is that the definition in law of what a firearm is - and that's the important definition from the point of view of keeping yourself out of court - is a very, very, very, stupidly ridiculously wide definition. An M4 bolt -- the small screw-like thing that's 4mm wide, not the bolt from an M4 carbine -- under the law, could be a firearm because it's the bolt that holds your action to your stock and the law says "any component part". You'd hope common sense would hold some weight in court, but the thing about common sense is...



And that's not the most comforting of things to have as your legal defence in court should you ever need it...

and it's my opinion that all scopes are classed similarly such that possession of any scope without a firearms licence will or could land you in pooh.

If it's a night vision or thermal scope, yeah, you'll probably be having a detailed chat with someone in the AGS, if only because "I just happen to have five grand's worth of hardware that's designed to bolt to a firearm officer, I don't have a firearm to bolt it to" is the kind of sentence that raises eyebrows...

If it's just a normal telescopic sight (without any built-in lasers or anything like that), well, there's no law against owning those. They're just telescopes basicly.

They're only different in that section 7 lists off the written permission procedure for them; but that doesn't mean that they themselves have a different legal status, it just means you have more than one way to meet the requirements for possessing one. You can get a full-blown licence for one, or use the section 7 authorisation, and in practice everyone does the latter because it's easier; but that doesn't somehow make the silencer less of a firearm in the law, it can't. It's like the way that a rifle doesn't stop being a firearm just because it's a club firearm and people are shooting it under 2(4)(d) instead of having their own licence for it.

Nice work there! Great photo too!
Would love to read more about your DIY set up!..Your not on any other nightvision forums are ye?

Anyway best of luck with the kit !

All ye need now is a thermal spotter! Nothing will escape! Lol

Why would you need a license to acquire night vision? Is this just for a night vision scopes or for goggles in general?

If I bring a night binocular into Ireland am I breaking the law?

Cass wrote:

If it's mounted to a firearm in the form of a scope, DIY job, etc. then it requires authorisation. Handheld units do not need the any authorisation.

Thanks for the clarification.