Licence dilemma

Hagar

This is a long story so pull up a chair.

I bought a rifle from a dealer who was broken into less than a week later and his entire stock was stolen. The next August when my licence was due a renewal I got nothing in the post. I asked at the Garda Station and was told not to worry as things were probably "just a bit behind" , I live in the Midlands so I wasn't too surprised. I still had no word at Christmas so I went to the Guards again. This time I was asked had I had any incident with my gun. Naturally I hadn't. I was then informed that no licence was being issued as my gun had been reported stolen by the dealer. I was able to produce the rifle and the most recent licence so the guard was satisfied that there was an error. I was told to put my gun into storage with the dealer until a new licence could be issued to me. As usual I was left waiting for 4 months before being told that the licence was not be reissued automatically and I would now have to reapply. At this point most of the licence year was gone so I decided to leave the gun where it was and apply this month. Now the dealer is pushing me to pay a storage charge for the whole period despite the fact that it was his faulty book keeping in the first palce that caused the rifle to be flagged as stolen. Since he reported it stolen it is not beyond possibity that it has already been paid for by the insurance company and it looks as if I am now having to pay him for storing it as a result of a possible error in book keeping at his end. Just to complicate matters I am moving house into another garda district next month.
What do I do next to get out of this shambles and how best to handle the dealer and the application, new district or old. Any advice would be appreciated.

civdef

Go to a solicitor.

Ask for a meeting with the superintendent who issued the first licence. Mention the solicitor.

The dealer's record book will show what day you took the firearms out on, and if they follow good practice, they will have also photocopied your licence on the day. They should also have a copy of the notification they sent to the guards when you first bought the rifle, or maybe you kept a photocopy. Mention the solicitor.

Sparks

The first thing to do would be to edit your post so it doesn't appear that you're libelling the dealer on a public forum and accusing him of insurance fraud!

Me, I'd exhaust the "quiet firm word" approach first. But if you do want to pursue this through the courts, civ's post is about the best summary. The small claims court would seem appropriate. You'll have to prove you collected the rifle before the robbery, and you'll have to show the error was on the part of the dealer and not the gardai.
And in the end, the dealer does have a small claim to a storage fee for the period where you decided to leave the firearm in his locker rather than pay for the year's licence. But the fee ought to be discounted heavily since he bears some responsibility for the mixup in the first place.

Do remember, though, that there is some emotional turmoil caused by being robbed. One dealer this year has already seen his family tied up as a gang stole his entire stock. I wouldn't be overly surprised by behaviour after that which appears insensitive...

civdef

Going on the information provided, the dealer is looking at serious trouble. As you can imagine record-keeping is taken quite seriously in the firearms industry, and discrepancies in the books are not looked on kindly at all by the authorities.
The dealer has no excuse whatsoever for reporting a firearm stolen that had been sold a week earlier.
It's also hard to libel a person when they're not identifiable. There are plenty of dealers in the Midlands, and there has been more than one robbery in recent years. That said, I have a fair idea who this is about, and am not terribly shocked, let's put it that way.

Sparks

As you can imagine record-keeping is taken quite seriously in the firearms industry, and discrepancies in the books are not looked on kindly at all by the authorities.

Indeed civ, and we've seen that happen only last year in the Trinity club over a delivery of ammunition.

That doesn't mean, however, that you can effectively accuse a firearms dealer of insurance fraud on a public forum before proving it in a courtroom!!!

It's also hard to libel a person when they're not identifiable.

Yes, but there aren't that many dealers in the country, even less in the Midlands, and even fewer who had their entire stock stolen between August 2002 and August 2003....

[Preacher]

. [edited out by moderator]

Sparks

Okay, that's the first example of a daft "you're a terrorist" post in the forum so far. I'm sure it was just intended to be a joke, and that there was no malice behind it.

However, It's also going to be the last daft "you're a terrorist" post in the forum.

There's no sense of humour on this one lads, we had enough of that nonsense in the thread where we discussed setting this forum up.

[Preacher]

lol

No harm intented, carry on

Hagar

Spoke to the firearms sargeant on Saturday. He was very helpful, but I must apply again in full as if it was a new licence. They will however hurry things up as I already hold ( have held ) a licence for the same rifle. I will keep you posted.

BTW does any body know of or have contacts in any Clubs in the Mullinagar area?
I may need it to get the licence as I am moving well away from where I currently have firing permissions.

Sparks

Hagar,
There's the Westmeath RGC, if the NARGC's site is correct, I've PM'd you the contact details.

oldzed

Hagar , I live very near Mullingar and shoot my rifles at midland rifle club near tullamore . If you are intrested let me know and I can give you more info . You can drop down some weekend and hire a club rifle if you want to shoot some targets . We have a covered firing point for about 70shooters at 50mtrs and 100 mtrs and metal swingers ,metalic sil shooting and centrefire shooting out to 600 yards with regular competitions in all disciplines . We also have a clay range and a brand new 25mtr pistol range is almost finished . We have over 300 members and are expanding and have several NRA qualified rifle and pistol instructors including myself for people wanting to learn to shoot.

Hagar

That's great news. I should be moved to Mullingar ath the end of the month. It will be hectic in the meantime so I probably won't get down til then, but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks.

Sparks

If tullamore's not too far for you Hagar, I'd second oldzed's suggestion - Midlands is an excellent facility (even if it can get a bit noisy for us sensitive ISSF folks ).
It's also one of the only places in the republic where you can shoot ISSF 300m at present.