Obtaining a License

rowanh

Hi

I been wanting to get an air rifle for years, recently i thought i would try again. I thought that one either needed to get permission from two land owners with 80 acres or more or else join a gun club.

I do not know two people with 80 acres of land. I would happily join a gun club but the only ones that are in any way close seem to cost around 500 euro with the signing up fee, which i would not be willing to pay.


I have gone into a couple different Garda stations making inquiries over the years, who basically said the above, then I was talking to a couple different people in the dept of justice. One of them asked me what was the purpose i wanted the air rifle for and i told him i wanted it for target shooting which i want to do on my dads property, he has around 11 acres of land. He thought this was ok and i should be able to get a license.

I want to go a Garda station again and see what the story is. I would be interested if anyone here knows what legally you are required to get a license. Also are there gun clubs in Dublin or Wicklow that have lower membership fees and are there lots of clubs or only the few that are generally listed on the irish shooting sites?

Any info or advise would be appreciated.

Rowan

sidneyreilly

Should be able to swing an airgun with that land (local super depending of course) but wont last long as your familly land will soon have to be an approved range!

Better apply for vermin control.

Either way you really should visit it a club and have a chat to some shooters, that will cost you nothing!

Clare gunner

ASFIK there is no minimum acerage you must have or be able to shoot over?
Get your application in before they start enforcing the law on ranges[if ever].

Umiq88

Just explain to the FO exactly what its for that you want to target shoot with your airrifle that you will be using a 50yard range max and will have a suitable backstop behind it. 1 acre of land is sufficient for this your not applying for a hunting licence it will be a fixed firing point.

You shouldnt have any problem really i'd just go in and have a chat with the FO and see what they think if they make any conditions that are reasonable well you may go along with them.

I think you said you were in dublin if your an alumni of one of the universities you can use they're ranges or theres a few around sparks will now whats what

rowanh

Thanks for the feedback.

scorphonic

Just as an aside to your first post rowanh, Expect to pay high prices for an initial membership to a club, at least this is the case for hunting clubs. My local club charges 400 for new members but this is reduced to 70 the following year. Its put in place to make sure that you are serious about joining the club...etc.

Best of luck with the application, just so you know, if your a past student of either Trinity College Dublin or UCD, they have ranges on campus and you could possibly join them. (again, its not cheap to join)

Riggser

From reading other threads it should be clear that the business of applying for a firearms certificate/license is not always straight forward. Every case is individual and has many factors, the list is as long as a piece of string.

Interesting to see the "Rate your district" thread being closed. Goes to show the varied nature of the process. In one respect it's good to see that firearm certs aren't being handed out like sweets, on the other hand you may be subjected to a process that may take a little longer than expected and not always to your satisfaction. Each application is as individual as the person applying. People will always shout louder when they have something bad to say about a service, usually drowns out the praises.

Sparks

True Riggser, but it's important to keep a clear picture. 220,000 licences granted every year. Currently there are 72 cases being taken against the Gardai in relation to the licencing process by the NARGC. Even if those 72 represent the best cases available (say, one out of every ten reported), and even if half of the problems are never reported at all to anyone, that still means that 99.35% of all applications are processed and granted without problems.

Now that's not saying that those cases are unjustified - it's vital that the law is followed in 100% of cases - but 99.35% isn't quite bad enough to make me want to dust off the pitchfork and light the torch, you know?

Besides, the problems of the 0.65% of those applying are going to seem rather small compared to the problems the new Firearms Act and Firearms Regulations are going to bring