Firearms Policy Unit? If so it's 01-6661911. Gda Paul Green or Tim O'Mahony.

Any joy yet?

You rang them on Tuesday (just gone by) the 10th November? The FPU told you that you'd have it by the Thursday (just gone) the 12th November?

Is that right?

If that is what they said i'd wait another few days. With Christmas just around the corner, and a host of other factors the average seems to be three to five days. This is based on myself and a few lads i've been speaking to. So if you don't have it by Tuesday of next week (17th Nov) then i'd start to call them again.

Do, i reckon you'll have it by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

g00167015 wrote: »

Cass, were you an Agony Aunt in a former life? LOL

Only messing :-)

Feels like it at times.

NicholasF wrote: »

Hi Eoin
I would write a letter followed by a phone call to your local Chief Superintendent's office,.............

Chief Supers don't process or involve themselves with unrestricted licenses. It's a the Super he needs to contact. As above i'd try the FPU first as the OP has already dealt with them. They can give him all the same info his FO can.

Any attempted contact with his Super will result in speaking to a clerk of even the FO first, and if he somehow managed to get directly through to the Super (never going to happen) the Super will delegate it back down to his/her clerk and/or FO.

NicholasF wrote: »

My experience is that the Chief Super does involve him self in licensing,

Of course he does, for restricted licenses among other topics that fall under his purview.

However there is a reason that Supers have the legal responsibility for issuing unrestricted licenses. They don't have to concern themselves with the issues that Chief Supers have to. IOW the chain of command is there for a reason. The appropriate person for the appropriate issue.

Plus with my last two restricted licenses the Chief Super made a point of clarifying that they were in fact restricted as he only deals with such applications and if they were unrestricted he would refer them, and me, to the Super who would deal with them from there.

I know different stations/districts deal with things differently but to me there is a clear cut process and from this and numerous other dealings over the years i've found it has never changed.

and more importantly is involved in the working of stations under his remit.

Well that goes without saying. A chief Super has numerous functions and stations to control. Firearms would only make up a small part of his duties hence the reason Supers deal with all unrestricted licenses as they make up the vast majority of applications and so the Cs is not spending all his time dealing with firearm issues/licenses/applications.


BTW, i'm not arguing with you (at all) and not simply just to be argumentative. However as i've outlined above there is a process for these things and it works. There is no need to go over the head of the Super or even the FO for that matter when a CS will only bump it back down to the Super to be dealt with. Give each step of the process it's due respect and time. If one step fails then you move onto the next one.

Sweet. A bit late but better than not at all.

As for the ammo amount. They are sticking fairly rigidly to the commissioner's guidelines which says:

• Farmer (one shotgun for vermin/pest control) – 100 rounds.
• Deer Gun – 200 to 260 rounds.
• Shotgun for clay pigeon, pheasant/pigeon/woodcock – 500 to 750 rounds.
• Target Shooter (member of authorised club) – 750 to 1,000 rounds.

However it also says that these are a recommended MINIMUM amount for the purpose the person is seeking the gun and that a higher amount may be granted should the applicant give a meritorious reason as to why they need more.

I generally use the following when submitting mine (on a separate piece of paper):

Re: Section 4.1 - I request the maximum rounds of ammunition on my license be increased to (insert amount) for the following reasons:

• Empty (fired) casings are treated the same as live rounds as per the Firearms Act, 1925 where it states that "ammunition for a firearm is any ingredient or component part of any such ammunition", with component part being the bullet, the casing, the propellant or the primer. So my license must allow me to have a high enough limit to have both live and fired rounds in my possession. 100 rounds would only allow me to have two full boxes of live ammunition. It would also prevent me from holding nay spent brass for the reasons outlined above.
• I regularly take part in target competitions and actively attend target ranges for practice. As a result of this I can go through a large quantity of rounds in a short period of time.
• Buying bulk amount of ammunition to reduce trips to the RFD and for cost implications.
• Buying in bulk also guarantees i can buy batches of ammunition which work best in my firearm.
• Reducing excessive trips to my local RFD. With a 100 round limit i can only hold 2 boxes of unfired/live rounds. This would require a trip to my RFD at least twice a week to buy more while all the while not allowing me to have any spent brass at the same time.

For these reasons I hope you can grant my request to increase the limit of ammunition to allow me to stay within the conditions of my licence.



Give it a try, but if you mention competitions you must be able to show yo shoot in open comps or are a member of a range.