Ministers car allegedly 'shot' on fire

budgies_tongue

Rumour this a.m. from DAGF that the cause of the fire in the Minisiter for Gaeltacht Affairs car was - allegedly-a shot from the sidearm carried by his Garda driver which discharged accidentally in the car accident. There was also - allegedly- a semi automatic in the boot.

DAGF are - allegedly- resisting requests from Volvo to let them investigate why the super safe car caught fire!

As with all rumours/speculation we should be cautious with this. Mind you if it is as alleged then good job the semi automatic didnt go off at the scene!

Hagar

If is necessary for the Garda to be issued with a semi-auto WTF use is it to anybody in a locked boot?

"Excuse me Mr. Ambusher while I just pop around to the boot, unlock it, open up the weapons case and get my gun. I won't be a minute. Thanks"

Of course I'm assuming the boot is kept locked and the firearm is carried in some sort of appropriate case.

mike65

DAGF is what exactly?

Mike.

civdef

This sounds like a load of cobblers.

Cars don't usually burn in RTAs, but it can happen. Fire Service SOPs for road accidents involve having a hoseline / extinguishers at the ready.

The description of the guns doesn't sound right either. Presumably when you say "semi-automatic" you mean an UZI, which is automatic - a sub-machine gun. It wouldn't be strange for an armed Garda to carry a revolver/pistol, with an UZI in the boot. The possibility of an accidental discharge causing a fire to start strikes me as very remote indeed.

Victor

mike65 wrote:

DAGF is what exactly?

Dept. Of Arts, Gaeltacht & ....eh, firearms.

Sparks

Unlike in hollywood, a round from a gun rarely (if ever) causes sparks or has any form of incendiary properties. It's lead for heaven's sake, it's inert...
[sarcasm]Unless of course, the garda was carrying tracer rounds in his pistol.[/sarcasm] (
You don't fire tracers from a pistol.)

Victor, it can't be arts, that's John O'Donoghue (Arts, Sports and Tourism).

FX Meister

I don't know, I've seen a lot of movies where a single, well placed shot can cause the car to explode. I presume the shot from this gun landed just short of the explosion zone so it just caught fire instead.

Highlander

More to the point, why does the Minister for the Gaelteacht require a Armed Garda driver, what sort of threat would exist that requires an armed driver.

vinnyfitz

Err Budgies tounge - what an unusual posting history you have.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/search.php?searchid=193677

But the general question is intriguing - I thought Volvo's were supposed not to go on fire...?

Sparks

FX Meister wrote:

I don't know, I've seen a lot of movies where a single, well placed shot can cause the car to explode. I presume the shot from this gun landed just short of the explosion zone so it just caught fire instead.

Need to raise that sarcasm hand a little higher there FX

Hobbes

Hagar wrote:

If is necessary for the Garda to be issued with a semi-auto WTF use is it to anybody in a locked boot?

It is more then likely he would have a sidearm on him as trying to grab a semi-automatic while driving would be more dangerous. More then likely the back seat of the car would drop down to allow access to the weapon as well.

Sparks

Sheesh. Guys, the pistol would be a semi-auto, the Uzi in the boot would have been fully-automatic. And having an armed Garda is pretty standard for Ministers. His job in case of attack is to evade and escape, don't forget, not to stand and fight, so he'd be busy driving rather than shooting back. The firearms are in case there's a roadblock that he can't evade. And if he ever had to use them for what they're intended for, odds are that it wouldn't matter anyway.

Victor

Sparks wrote:

the pistol would be a semi-auto

Don't Gardaí tend to use revolvers? Mechanical reliability and all that.

Sparks

Victor wrote:

Don't Gardaí tend to use revolvers? Mechanical reliability and all that.

No, pretty sure they're semi-autos. Due to be changed for sig-sauer 226 semi-autos soon.