Firearm Substitution

Bobby_1

Advice needed, put in a substitution for the shotgun 6 weeks ago for another shotgun. haven't heard anything yet, i have been on to the FO who tells me that everything is sorted at his end and to ring district office and query the substitution with a certain person. I ring the office and the said person is on leave for a "few" weeks. I have been onto the firearm crowd in dublin who tell me there is no record of application for a substitution???? Is it sitting in a pile of paperwork, LOST like my initial renewals last year or just thrown in the bin? To say that my faith in the system for licensing is reaching an all time low is an under statement! Thanks in advance for the help.

Cass

A substitution should be done in a "timely manner" which under the guidelines translates to 14 days. Its not a full application and your FO should be able to do it on PULSE immediately. If your FO cannot do this then he/she is not the actual FO for your area merely someone that takes in applications and sorts them to pass onto the actual person that enters the data into the system.

I would still search for the original, and keep onto your FOabout it will subtly mentioning the fact that 14 days has long come and passed.

doyle61

I did a substitution form for shotgun earlier this year also. Unlike your situation though, the FO did it all out there and then on the computer in front of me and I had lisance back in just over a week, and the delay was because he had a couple of days leave booked for the day after. I reckon someone isn't doing their job in your case but best of luck with getting it sorted

JasonBourne

oh have a similar story, i applied for a .22 substitution about a month ago the FO did the computer work in front of me as i was in her office. a week later on the 7th of august i applied for my 270 rifle (which i was in a big rush for so i could use it for my HCAP this weekend) the licence arrived for the 270 last friday the 19th but no sign of the .22 licence yet?? rang my FO earlier and she said she check on it, if there was something wrong she'd call me if not take it all was well and would be on the way in its own time.

i just get the impression there is no hard or fast rule how long a licence takes

just my 2 cents

Cass

JasonBourne wrote: »

i just get the impression there is no hard or fast rule how long a licence takes

There is. The problem is the application of the rules rather than the time frame set down.

A substitution can be done by an FO there and then. You have already been approved for the firearm and are simply switching make/models. This is the reason the FOs have the "power/ability" to do subs in station. A new applciation MUST be done b the Super/Chief Super, and even then they are only meant to take 3 months.

Scalachi

it can also depend on where you live (Rural Station etc.... and their local policy.

I have done several Subs in the past few months, and they have taken anywhere between 3 to 14 weeks ! and in every case I have even included a copy of the relevant page from the "guidelines"...

Where i live, it goes something like this:
Form goes in to the local FO in local station
Local FO he then sends to District Office for Approval (different station)
District office send to their District FO (different station) (he does a few checks)
District FO once approved sends back to District office
District Office Sends back to local FO in Local station.
If Local FO is there and not too busy, it will be done, if on leave or busy...... well...

Phone calls always necessary to "help' speed up the process.

Cass

Thats a good point and reading down through your description i see the differences bewteen areas. For example Portlaoise is the main station for the county, but with a large shooting population we also have Abbeyleix. So mine goes as follows (for a sub):

• Fill out FCA1 for sub and go to sub station (Abbeyleix)
• FO there processess the application and enters details onto PULSE immediately
• I get the grant letter within 5 days
• No more than 5 days later the license is in my hand.

The same holds true for full applications. Both Abbeyleix and Porlaoise have a Super (Abbeyleix) and Chief Super (Portlaoise) so the only time any of my applications are sent to Portlaoise is when its a restricted license application.

However if i go directly to my local station the Garda on duty (there are only 2) will take my application and then every Friday he travels to Abbeyleix to submit all application he received that week. So that adds one week extra to every sub/new application.

doyle61

Ezridax wrote: »

Thats a good point and reading down through your description i see the differences bewteen areas. For example Portlaoise is the main station for the county, but with a large shooting population we also have Abbeyleix. So mine goes as follows (for a sub):

• Fill out FCA1 for sub and go to sub station (Abbeyleix)
• FO there processess the application and enters details onto PULSE immediately
• I get the grant letter within 5 days
• No more than 5 days later the license is in my hand.

The same holds true for full applications. Both Abbeyleix and Porlaoise have a Super (Abbeyleix) and Chief Super (Portlaoise) so the only time any of my applications are sent to Portlaoise is when its a restricted license application.

However if i go directly to my local station the Garda on duty (there are only 2) will take my application and then every Friday he travels to Abbeyleix to submit all application he received that week. So that adds one week extra to every sub/new application.

I've said it lots of times before and I'll say it again: we don't appreciate how lucky we are to have that particular FO in laois. Top man!!!

Cass

doyle61 wrote: »

Top man!!!

Ya can sing that. I dread the day he retires.:(

zaitsev

He is brilliant, if more FO's were like him then we would not have threads like
this, also hoping he will not retire anytime soon.

Bobby_1

OK. Dropped a letter into the super this morning outlining my cause for concern regarding the paperwork getting lost like the last time and why it was taking so long etc, so we'll see what happens over the coming days. For your info the station is the main one in the county with the district office situated there also, so paperwork getting moved from one station to another would not be cause for delay.