So I've been away for a few years and suddenly I hear that handguns have returned to the republic after 35 years?
So my question is "How did this come about"? Some of my canadian shooter friends have questioned me about it.

My uneducated response to them is that someone challenged the handgun ban in court and was permitted to import an olympic style handgun and this opened the door for everything else.

From a quick search this is the procedure as I under stand it is, 1 pick a handgun model, 2 get it approved by the local garda station at their discretion, 3 put in place the required security measures requested by the garda, 4 be a member of a gun club. 5 go through the same procedure for each handgun.


What I am unsure about is.
1 must the handgun be unloaded at home and in transit? (in canada its a firearms offense to store any gun in a loaded condition)
2 how are the handguns transported to and from the range? In a locked container or just a unlocked range bag? can you stop on the way to the range or make a detour with a handgun in your car?
3 are there restriction in law on the type of handgun you can get? eg. no Desert Eagles in 50ae? and no full auto glocks
4 are handguns limited to a certain magazine capacity? can you get a 20rd mag for your glock 17?


The canadian situation is somewhere in between the Irish and American laws.
There are 2 license categories, a Non restricted license which will allow you to own what would normally be called a hunting rifle over a certain length and of any caliber you desire this includes a lot of military style rifles but all semi auto rifles must have the magazine block at 5 rounds for example this is a military style hunting rifle http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1600/1623.htm
but no handguns

The "Restricted license" this includes all handguns as long as they are not full auto and have a barrel longer then 104mm and normal calibers 22lr and 9mm and above but not in between, except for olympic style pistols eg a walter ppk would be prohibited by length and caliber. Handguns must have no more then 10 rd magazines and can only be fired at a range there is no carrying of handguns for defense for most folk. Also in the restricted list is a selection of rifles that are deemed to be scary looking, for example the wonderful AR 15 is restricted even if it is longer then the requirements for a hunting rifle. When the current laws came in to effect someone opened a gun digest and put a red marker through all the scary looking guns and the were put on the restricted list.


All restricted firearms must be stored in a locked container with a trigger lock on it as well.
example.. you just have to put a trigger lock on your gun and lock it in a bag and leave it on the kitchen table and the law says your ok. If you have a safe or vault you dont need a trigger lock on it. you also need a permit to transport it too the range

Also there is the prohibited cat which you cant buy unless you possessed a prohibited cat gun prior to 95 when the new law came in to effect eg if you had an AK 47 in 95 you can still buy a gun on the prohibited list eg an MP5. still 5 rd limit.


Its a one license gets you as many guns in the category as you want, I've met people here who have had 220 firearms a year or 2 ago but thinned out their collection down to a tiny 180 guns.
You must do a 2 day safety course with a government approved instructor and sit an exam for each of the 2 licenses then for your restricted firearms join a club and you apply for an Authorization To Transport which is another form that lets you travel to the range (this is redundant because the only places you can have your pistol is at home and the range anyway)

And the big complaint is the new firearms registry. All hunters must have their rifles serial number registered to their license and name. Politicians said it would cost 2 million dollars to enforce and the cost 5 years later is 2 BILLION!