Different rules for gun safes in Kerry

Armadillo

Hi all,
My dad has one small guage single barrel shotgun (looks like a rifle and could be described as a womans shotgun - ya get the idea) for a few years now for controlling vermin. I helped him with the renewal of the cert.
I read the conditions on the garda website and told him that there was no need for a safe - just a trigger lock and disassemble it and store ammo seperately.
Anyway the local sergeant insisted (on the instructions of the local super) that he get a safe and that the cert would not be issued until this was got. He did so and installed the safe in the garage\shed attached to the house. Sergeant called and inspected the safe and said 'no good, it needs to be installed in the house'. 2nd inspection arranged and cert issued.
Now, I only found out this pressuring to get a gun safe after the cert was issued as I don't live at the house and I'm pissed off at this local ruling and extra cost (€150) of buying a safe to a pensioner. I'm all for safety and security of guns but this is a bit ott and the rules and proceedures should be clear and fair for the country as opposed to extra little local rules.
Am I right or wrong?

bunny shooter

To put it bluntly, unfortunately the "guidelines" aren't worth the paper they are written on UNLESS the Super agrees with them, which a lot don't.

The Super can demand anything he/she wants unless you are willing to go to court and even then you're not likely to win.

And we were led to believe it was gonna be equality and justice for all :rolleyes:

Glensman

Although I agree it's not fair that your father has been singled out like this, i think that all firearms SHOULD be held in a safe which is attached to the fabric of the house.

My thoughts aren't any reflection of the safety of gun owners in this country, but there are so many robberies in the state, especially in rural areas where firearms are most likely to be held...

killalanerr

lads they come round check the safe who has access to the keys but were is the gun kept

Sparks

killalanerr, if they caught you doing that, you'd lose the licence. Not worth the hassle.

jap gt

did a safety course yesterday, the lads said at the course that a trigger lock is the minimum required, my local station tell most people to get a safe, as locks are no good i think everyone should have one, even for one shotgun.

rrpc

bunny shooter wrote: »

To put it bluntly, unfortunately the "guidelines" aren't worth the paper they are written on UNLESS the Super agrees with them, which a lot don't.

The Super can demand anything he/she wants unless you are willing to go to court and even then you're not likely to win.

And we were led to believe it was gonna be equality and justice for all :rolleyes:

In this case, the guidelines aren't to blame. There's an SI that specifies the security levels required and the firearms act states that they are minimum standards.

So a Super is quite within his rights to insist on a higher standard of security and taking him to court would be a waste of time and money.

What is a problem and I believe is totally unfair is that you have to meet these standards before the Super or CS gets to decide on your application. In other words you could be out a substantial amount of money and still not get your licence.

That's completely wrong IMO

sfakiaman

rrpc wrote: »

In this case, the guidelines aren't to blame. There's an SI that specifies the security levels required and the firearms act states that they are minimum standards.

So a Super is quite within his rights to insist on a higher standard of security and taking him to court would be a waste of time and money.

What is a problem and I believe is totally unfair is that you have to meet these standards before the Super or CS gets to decide on your application. In other words you could be out a substantial amount of money and still not get your licence.

That's completely wrong IMO

I pretty much agree with the above but Supers/CS must apply rules (even if they make them up themselves) fairly evenly. So if you are asked for a level of security beyond the norm for your area you could possibly take it to court.

When I applied for a pistol licence I had a certain amount of negociation with the Super over security (he won) but he did agree to issue the licence on condition the security was in place. I think it only reasonable that a written agreement to issue the licence should be given before the applicant is required to commit to a substantial outlay. Sadly nobody is going to give you that commitment unless you push for it.

johngalway

To be honest, I think a safe - bolted to the wall, a solid wall - in a usually occupied building should be the minimum as it's only common sense.