open season on road signs

PL05

Was out recently following up on permissions and i could,nt believe the amount of road signs i saw with bullet holes in them. now i,ve been shooting a long time and have seen this before, but rare and in very remote areas, but these were on main roads. Not that it makes a differance where it happens, it should,nt happen anywhere. it seems that a few people and hopefully its only a few people, should,nt have guns and are not doing any favours for law abiding shooters.

EWQuinn

Here in the US, for some rural areas, I had the idea that they should simply make the road signs with holes already in them. That would spoil it for the would be shooters and add to public safety. They have not adopted the idea yet.

One shot on kill

Good idea.

We're they bullet holes or holes from a shottie.

Vizzy

Two words-Fcuking idiots.:(
Apart from the cost of repairing the signs there is the safety issue.
Typically any road sign will be put up in such a way that it will "stand out" (i.e. no backstop).
These clowns shouldn't be allowed to have a cap gun,never mind an actually firearm.

One shot on kill

That's it that's why I was wondering was in shot gun or rifle. I'd find it incredibly hard to believe that some one would shoot a road sign that's what, say 7-8 foot high with as you say no back stop, and shoot it with a rifle.

deeksofdoom

I was down around Duncannon there a few years ago and the amount of road signs blasted with shotguns was mad.

Must have been the same guy going around shooting up the place, it takes a special person for that kind of handy work.

strangles

jaysus do ye not know lads it takes a fair hard man to shoot a road sign. fcuking apes

deeksofdoom

strangles wrote: »

jaysus do ye not know lads it takes a fair hard man to shoot a road sign. fcuking apes

Your dead right. They're actually hard to hit especially if your standing in front of one because they have a tendency not to move.:D

One shot on kill

I'd say the muscles really come out when there shooting them while driving past at 50mph

TriggerPL

Shot a sign for deer before , no meat on it so never bothered afterwards , hard to skin too

allan450

i know a lad how got in serious **** over it.do you no what the clown was doing zeroing the rifle on the crossroad sign.so he was putting his crosshairs on + of sign to zero.lets just say he dont have his guns anymore after an other clever thing he done.

sniperman

i have seen rifle and shotgun holes on main road signs,there is a rifle hole in a sign on the thurles to nenagh road,that road is very bendy,bullet could have gone anywhere,i think the reason behind it is idiots get a high leaving their mark,like them d++k heads that leave the tyre marks all over the roads,those fools should not have guns,or cars,:mad:

Tawny Owl

Was on a day off yesterday drawing turf, and spotted a sign not in the Bog but leading to it on the main road, with bullet holes and there not from a .22 a larger round, so yes they are idiots and need catching who every they are the tools.

vapour_trail

Out my way its actually rare to find a road sign with NO bullet holes or shot pattern. Sometimes I just cant believe what I see, it just baffles me. Its common to see on the ESB poles in fields too.

TriggerPL

sniperman wrote: »

i have seen rifle and shotgun holes on main road signs,there is a rifle hole in a sign on the thurles to nenagh road,that road is very bendy,bullet could have gone anywhere,i think the reason behind it is idiots get a high leaving their mark,like them d++k heads that leave the tyre marks all over the roads,those fools should not have guns,or cars,:mad:

Hold on a sec , ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , but the persen shooting sign Is running the gauntlet ......

ormondprop

TriggerPL wrote: »

Hold on a sec , ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , but the persen shooting sign Is running the gauntlet ......

How many people are killed from wreckless driving every year and how many are killed due to wreckless gun ownership??

Both are idiotic practices that are as dangerous as each other and can go disastrously wrong and neither should be done and both should have a harsh punishment in my opinion

EireIceMan

TriggerPL wrote: »

Hold on a sec , ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , but the persen shooting sign Is running the gauntlet ......

If they want to go and do rings and squiggless let them pay to use facilities where is safe to do so like everyone else. Where their driving dosnt affect lives or insurance premiums for decent drivers.
Ireland might have some great roads suited to rallying but were not all born with Sebastian Loeb bloodlines no mather how much lads think.

Cass

TriggerPL wrote: »

......ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , ......

Have to say i fully agree with ormondprop.

ormondprop wrote: »

Both are idiotic practices that are as dangerous as each other and can go disastrously wrong and neither should be done and both should have a harsh punishment in my opinion

I get it here a lot, but when working up in Ardee the old road to Dundalk had a wide area where these twats used to do all their "donuts". It's on a bend, and more than once i would come around the corner to headlights either coming at me or going around in circles. Got to the point where i would have to crawl around the bend.

Lads with a false sense of control of their cars. Now i personally believe that firing a gun along or across a road to hit a sign should be an automatic loss of firearm, and fines. However there are far, far more cars out there that reckless gun owners, and the harm they do is more common, frequent, and usually lethal.

We were all young once, but in my experience it's always some poor innocent passer by that gets milled out of it while the f**k wit that caused the accident scarpers.

TriggerPL

There is some amount of Christian god fairing mass goers around ere ! I have to say ! Suppose none of ye ever got a speeding fine or nothing while out on the road , and doing circles in the one spot would hardly class as loab type stuff !!

And my point was that rings on the road will not cost everyone there licence , and stop people from driving , but some idiots shooting road signs with a centre fire rifle, in an area could put a stop to a super giving out centre fire rifles, and or shotguns licences very fast . It hard enough to get a licence as it is !

eirator

Power has been out at home a few too many times recently so I phoned up and got a call back from the local foreman and while there were lots of different reasons for the power going off one of the longest outages was because someone had deliberately shot 2 of the insulators on one of the poles just up the road from us?

Cass

TriggerPL wrote: »

There is some amount of Christian...

Nope

god fairing

Fearing? nope.

mass goers

Nope.

Suppose none of ye ever got a speeding fine or nothing while out on the road

Nope. not even a parking ticket.

And my point was that rings on the road will not cost everyone there licence , and stop people from driving

Any twat shooting signs will not cost everyone their firearm licenses. So what's your point?

........ but some idiots shooting road signs with a centre fire rifle, in an area could put a stop to a super giving out centre fire rifles, and or shotguns licences very fast . It hard enough to get a licence as it is !

No Super can ban rifles. That requires a Minister and either an SI or amendment to the firearms Act.

So lets not over dramatise the issue by implying that if one lad was doing that every other lad in the area with a gun would loose it or not get a license. Every sign around my way is shot yet i have never had an issue getting a license.

TriggerPL

Cass wrote: »

Nope

Fearing? nope.

Nope.

Nope. not even a parking ticket.


Any twat shooting signs will not cost everyone their firearm licenses. So what's your point?


No Super can ban rifles. That requires a Minister and either an SI or amendment to the firearms Act.

So lets not over dramatise the issue by implying that if one lad was doing that every other lad in the area with a gun would loose it or not get a license. Every sign around my way is shot yet i have never had an issue getting a license.

Well hope ya never get the super we have so , 3 lads in there late 40's were called in and ask to explained there reason in writing for having a large cal rifle (super words ) ! Lads that been shooting deer for years .

I myself had to get ariel maps of my lands and a letter from the gun club stating how many members we had because I made the mistake of telling the super we allowed gun club members shoot our land, all stuff no required for a firearms licence !

And I'm aware of the powers supers have but that don't stop them making life very diffacult for a person , as we read on this forum from time to time !

And know several lads in the area that are going to court to get centre fire rifles licences ,

Supers exact words were , go to court and try and get it , if the judge says yes then it doesn't come back on my head WHEN you have an accident !

Cass

TriggerPL wrote: »

Well hope ya never get the super we have so , 3 lads in there late 40's were called in and ask to explained there reason in writing for having a large cal rifle (super words ) ! Lads that been shooting deer for years .

When they went in and explained why did they get the licenses?

I myself had to get ariel maps of my lands and a letter from the gun club stating how many members we had because I made the mistake of telling the super we allowed gun club members shoot our land, all stuff no required for a firearms licence !

Had to do the same once myself. New Super, but only the once.

And I'm aware of the powers supers have but that don't stop them making life very diffacult for a person , as we read on this forum from time to time !

I'm not saying it's a bed of roses, and i don't want to turn this into a second motoring forum. However i keep my nose clean, with minimum effort, and get pretty much all i want. The actions of others does not impact me directly in terms of them shooting signs, but it's something i hate to see.

Where i used to live there was a row of street lights that took years for the locals to get put up. Within a month all the lenses were shot. The council replaced them so many times over the course of a year that they gave us an option, "stop the people shooting them, or we can pay for the new lenses ourselves". The road remained dark for years. We paid for them at the start, but eventually even we gave up.

Idle minds and "harmless" pranks are not harmless, and not the least bit funny. If you consider that as taking the moral high ground then that's what it is. Excusing one type of behaviour and condoning the other is fine if that's how you see it, i, however do not.

sniperman

Cass wrote: »

When they went in and explained why did they get the licenses?

Had to do the same once myself. New Super, but only the once.

I'm not saying it's a bed of roses, and i don't want to turn this into a second motoring forum. However i keep my nose clean, with minimum effort, and get pretty much all i want. The actions of others does not impact me directly in terms of them shooting signs, but it's something i hate to see.

Where i used to live there was a row of street lights that took years for the locals to get put up. Within a month all the lenses were shot. The council replaced them so many times over the course of a year that they gave us an option, "stop the people shooting them, or we can pay for the new lenses ourselves". The road remained dark for years. We paid for them at the start, but eventually even we gave up.

Idle minds and "harmless" pranks are not harmless, and not the least bit funny. If you consider that as taking the moral high ground then that's what it is. Excusing one type of behaviour and condoning the other is fine if that's how you see it, i, however do not.

++++1 TO THAT

sniperman

TriggerPL wrote: »

Hold on a sec , ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , but the persen shooting sign Is running the gauntlet ......

Tell that to the person coming round a bend and facing into 2 or 3 cars spinning round in circles,tyres burning,headlights on full,not a nice thing to drive into at night,if you read my op,i said they like leaving their mark,anyhow both activities are stupid and foolish,and both put lives at risk.

deeksofdoom

TriggerPL wrote: »

Hold on a sec , ur not seriously trying to say that a few young lads going out doing a few rings and squiggles up the roads is a serious as this . Them fooling round in there car is harming no one , but the persen shooting sign Is running the gauntlet ......

Spoken like a true boy racer.........:P

However I was nearly creamed on the main road by a boy racer who flipped his car from end to end trying to avoid me. The **** would probably have been safer with a rifle shooting road signs.

One shot on kill

There both wrong they can both kill in a heart beat in the wrong hands.

On was designed to kill that's why people feel very strongly. Although I do see we're trigger is coming from your more likely to cause a couple of hundreds quid damage with a car. With a gun if it goes wrong the chances of someone dieing goes up ten fold that's why people feel so strongly about the signs.

And saying shooting signs doesn't affect every one is wrong just look at what happened with pistols. It's just the nature and danger of a firearm. An unfortunately in my opinion there are to many guys with guns that are us and guys that are unsafe a lot more than guys that are safe.

We complain about guards and processing applications all the time on this forum maybe that is a backlash for people shooting signs may e its a backlash for the guys doing donuts in there cars.

Cass

One shot on kill wrote: »

.......... your more likely to cause a couple of hundreds quid damage with a car. With a gun if it goes wrong the chances of someone dieing goes up ten fold that's why people feel so strongly about the signs.

It only causes a couple of hundred quids worth of damage if a car strikes a wall or some other inanimate object. However when a car side swipes another, has a head on, hits a pedestrian, cyclist, etc. Then it's a life. So for fairness sake they should be compared equally. IOW the few hundred quid worth of damage is the equivalent of dropping a gun and damaging the stock, scope, barrel, etc. I'm not really sayig that right, but hopefully ya get my line of thought.

I still say that even taking into account the number difference between cars, and firearms if they were compared firearm related deaths/injuries would be way down on vehicle deaths/injuries.

And saying shooting signs doesn't affect every one is wrong just look at what happened with pistols.

To be fair shooting signs has nothing to do with why pistols were treated as they were. That was a misguided, and ill informed knee jerk reaction by the then Minister to the senseless killing of Shane Geoghgan due the inability to efficiently and effectively tackle real gun crime carried out using illegal firearms.

We complain about guards and processing applications all the time on this forum maybe that is a backlash for people shooting signs may e its a backlash for the guys doing donuts in there cars.

Could be part of it, but more likely down to a much larger anti gun sentiment. Plain and simple. The sign shooting only reinforces their beliefs.

I said it before, but i was once told by a Garda, many years ago, that if he had his way i wouldn't have a slingshot let alone a shotgun. He then handed me my license.

One shot on kill

When you start naming names about the pistol laws I don't want to and won't get into it

Gun crime is why every one lost or won't get center fire pistols your right there. But the genuine law abiding guys suffur again. The guys that break gun laws still have guns I'd say.

Car can collide with out killing people but look I get what yer all saying but cars and messing are a part of growing up shooting road signs is pure recklessness infairness.

I'm no saint I have broke the law I have got speeding fines I've never shot a road sign doe.

Here's a question

How do you police it or prevent it.

pheasntstalker

both of them are stupid and foolish carry on ,and shouldnt be tolareted but as one op stated we all were young and foolish at some stage! and i confess many moons ago as a wee angst ridden badass f"ck u teenager shooting up a road sign:eek::eek::eek:(caught an got a serious boot in the hole for it by the uncle for wasting lead:eek::o) lesson learned maybe my missus is rite im turning into victor mildue!!:o in my auld age but hindsight is i didnt consider what might of happened, but both are weapons when u think of it, but there will always be idiots out there that give decent lads/lasses a bad name:mad:

Cass

One shot on kill wrote: »

When you start naming names about the pistol laws I don't want to and won't get into it

What?

I didn't name any laws. I only mentioned what was the catalyst that precipitated the "ban".

Car can collide with out killing people but look I get what yer all saying but cars and messing are a part of growing up shooting road signs is pure recklessness infairness.

Same as dropping a gun, an accidental misfire with a firearm can happen without injuring anyone. It's all relative.

How do you police it or prevent it.

You don't/can't. It's a "get caught red handed" incident. Same as an offence with a car. How many times have you broken the speed limit, parked illegally, broken a red light, not worn the seat belt, talked on the phone while driving, etc. compared to the amount of times you have been caught for it.


The laws are there, and cover all eventualities. However it's not possible to police everything all the time. Regardless of the nature of it. Fact of the matter is whether it's shooting signs, acting the dick in a car your number will come up eventually and hopefully no one will get injured in the process. Just the right person getting their wrist slapped, and learning a lesson.

Only difference in all this is bad drivers are a regular and common sight that is excused because cars are an integral part of life. People do not view guns in the same manner so it's always more "in your face" when guns are the issue.

pheasantstalker wrote:

..............but there will always be idiots out there that give decent lads/lasses a bad name

And there is the problem. i agree that when young you do stupid sh*t. We all did whatever it was. However as gun owners we need to regulate ourselves that little bit more as it's a luxury that can be taken from us. If you want to blow off some steam go out and shoot away, just not a fecking sign that draws everyone's attention.

For years when i was younger my uncle, very very anti gun, would always say to me that he'll see my picture in the paper some day after shooting up some place because an interest in guns is an illness. Ye the same pr**k has 5 offences for drink driving, written off two cars, and knocked down a person. Yet somehow that's "not as bad" as owning a firearm and having a clean record.:mad::rolleyes:

PL05

Don,t know about you lads but it seems to me, as these days its hard to gain the trust of land owners, for permission to shoot and getting harder. so it just does,nt make sense that someone who does get permission on land adjacent to these shot up signs would carry on like this and risk being told to f**k off by the farmer or approached by the garda. Think there a strong possibility that these idiots may not have permission to be there in the first place.

One shot on kill

Cass wrote: »

That was a misguided, and ill informed knee jerk reaction by the then Minister to the senseless killing of Shane Geoghgan.

Sorry my post wasn't to clear this is what I meant not the actual law.


Ah shooting signs and firearms negligence is completely wrong all we can do is uphold our end of the deal and be vigilant.

pheasntstalker

it seems to me now i am in no way implying! that nine times out of ten it will probably a young lad that just got/ or joint licensed on parent/guardints gun fones jonny an young mick down the road( jonny i got the licence are ya coming for a shot?) drives/walks meets the lads, conversation goes something like; where will we go?, what will we shoot? here have a shot at that aul sign post:D:D jayus that savage paddy haha etc,now point im making is this scenerio happens and as i said i am not tarring all youg shots with the same brush there are alot of young safe decent lads/lasses here on this forum and round the country that have more cope on than i did at there age,but we all rember that 1st time we brought the gun out the excitement etc, bottom line is signposts are not targets and are a waste cartridges and bullets and can kill , as is doin donuts an burnouts ya can kill yerself ,wreck the car or worse kill a pedastrian or an other driver, both are wreckless behavior and education should start at home/school,and the gobsh!tes should lose gun or car licence for it, p.s there is still aulder kids that havnt grown up yet!! still shooting signposts and bein silly in cars,and there will always be im afraid:mad:

pheasntstalker

(on alighter note):D when does signpost season start and finsh?:);)

Cass

It's a short season. April 1st only.

One shot on kill

pheasntstalker wrote: »

(on alighter note):D when does signpost season start and finsh?:);)

:D:D:D:D

Around now seemingly.

dodderangler

I've never seen a road sign shot but I have seen plenty of gun club signs shot and worse I seen land owners who have signs on their land saying no shooting and fcuking sign shot to bits. It's realistically making the shooting community look like hooligans and thugs and not fair on the lads who actually put a lot of time and effort and money into preserving land and keeping land owners happy.

PL05

pheasntstalker wrote: »

(on alighter note):D when does signpost season start and finsh?:);)

nobody knows, the notice was shot to bits.

PL05

dodderangler wrote: »

I've never seen a road sign shot but I have seen plenty of gun club signs shot and worse I seen land owners who have signs on their land saying no shooting and fcuking sign shot to bits. It's realistically making the shooting community look like hooligans and thugs and not fair on the lads who actually put a lot of time and effort and money into preserving land and keeping land owners happy.

just trying to lighten the mood there. But could,nt agree with you more, its not on and as i originally said f***ing idiots not doing decent lads any favours.

dodderangler

PL05 wrote: »

just trying to lighten the mood there. But could,nt agree with you more, its not on and as i originally said f***ing idiots not doing decent lads any favours.

All these little things just add up for reasons to not give out permission to lads. And these days it's getting harder to get land to hunt.
And another thing on the rise is land owners and houses around the area are being broken into during the day and that's making it harder for permission aswell because the house owners don't know who is on the land and I've even talked to about it before and permissions have been lost also. Another one or two I just feel a bit uncomfortable being on because of this and I don't want to be accused of anything.

Cavan duck buster

I have seen this before as well, from ware i was standing their was no way to judge a back stop. It just looks awful when ever i ho fishing near this place.

TriggerPL

deeksofdoom wrote: »

Spoken like a true boy racer.........:P

However I was nearly creamed on the main road by a boy racer who flipped his car from end to end trying to avoid me. The **** would probably have been safer with a rifle shooting road signs.

First of all I drive a discovery befor that a transit connect , Pajero and 406 and a caddy van ! So because i say i dont think is a serious suddenly im a boy racers .

I don't think a few marks on a road is a serious as the the shooting signs is because of the speed involved which is about 15 miles an hour going round in the one area .

Obviously the lad you nearly had a run in with was speeding and lost control , going on that basics anyone could have been in that position of nearly colliding with you !

You been shot because someone shoots a road sign with a 308 or what every is a little more serious and would just be another reason for people do try and ban guns !!

Don't ever presume to know me !