gun clubs age restriction

foxkiller100

Hi everybody,just wondering if anybody knows if a gun club can put up the age on a junior member restricting them to shoot unaccompanied from the age of 16 to 18 possibly 21, would like to know if the club is allowed to bring in this rule ?????thanks

Sparks

Fast answer yes.

Long answer, clubs can't legally stop you from shooting in the take-your-firearm-away sense; but the club can refuse membership if you break its rules and that includes access to their lands to shoot on and whatever group insurance or compensation fund they use. So you can't shoot with them. That may or may not amount to the same thing as not being able to shoot at all, depending on your circumstances, but the central point is, they're entitled to make rules like that and deny you access to "their stuff" if you don't follow them; so long as those rules don't break the law. And yes, you could challange those rules in court if you felt they broke a particular law, but I don't think the rule you cited would make for an easy target in court, not when they can use the magic words "public safety"...

foxkiller100

Thanks for the reply,i.will have to seek legal advice its a bit complicated and i cant go into too much detail ...thanks again

Perazzi

No gun club can stop you from shooting one their so called land if you seek insurance and you are a genuine shooter and have full permission from the land owner

meathstevie

A club can implement a rule like that alright but it wouldn't be applicable if you're not on club lands or taking part in club activities. A club can't for example say that no member under 21 can shoot unaccompanied. By law you can and as such that restriction can only apply to club lands and club activities.

For example the same hypothetical club, let's assume game club, can't prohibit you from going to let's say Kelly's in Ballivor and shoot a hundred clays.

Perazzi

Ok I follow you

Sparks

Perazzi wrote: »

and have full permission from the land owner

And you'd need to be sure the land owner owned the shooting rights and hadn't signed them over to the gun club (or never had them to start with). Which isn't as obvious as you'd think it'd be.

Perazzi

Sparks go up to a farmer and say that to him about shooting rights and see what answer you will get .

hiddenmongoose

Clubs dont own lands, you can seek permissions from land owners to shoot in a gun clubs area and not be a club member.Some Clubs stamp their feet and give off stink about this and say its members only BUT at the end of the day if you have the landowner/sporting rights owners permission then the club have no rights to say anything to you.

Sparks

Perazzi wrote: »

Sparks go up to a farmer and say that to him about shooting rights and see what answer you will get .

I can almost guarantee you that the farmer's answer won't be worth as much as the solicitor's answer in terms of staying out of trouble if you encounter an enthusiastic Garda two weeks out of the Garda College and he asks any awkward questions.

Also, you're talking about someone going shooting on club lands after the club says they're not to do so, which means someone is liable to get snippy and in this country that seems to always drag in a solicitor or two from someplace, and when that happens it's too late to get your ducks in a row. Best to check before ticking the club off, I'd have thought, but it's your salary, spend it however you want.

foxkiller100

Thanks for the input members, this restriction only applies to clubland not sporting clubs on private land. the member Has been shooting for the last year on a full licence and this new age hike will mean that they will be no longer able to shoot alone or if they are with somebody over the age of 18 or 21 only one gone will be allowed between the 2

grassroot1

Did you attend the AGM when this rule was proposed and if you did were your objections given a fair hearing?

foxkiller100

Sorry this rule is in the pipeline and wasnt proposed at the agm but im sure it will be brought in before november the 1st

meathstevie

To me it sounds like a couple of members want the pheasants all to themselves and don't want you out on "their" land. Happy enough to take your money though.

As was mentioned before, dot your I's and cross your T's and get individual permissions in your area. Once you know a farmer or two they tend to snowball and you can shoot individually and needs be liability insurance can be bought individually as well.
As long as the landowner owns the shooting rights and gave you permission no amount of signs on a gate impacts on your lawful entitlement to shoot the land.

A few in the club I'm in tried to implement weekend only shooting, surprise surprise Monday to Friday nine to five lads, but the proposal was quickly kicked to touch.

You could also propose to pay half the membership if there's some discriminatory restriction based on your membership. It would be discriminatory if the restriction was purely age based.

If it was based on for example the first two years of membership and applied equally to all new members regardless of age, sex etc etc it would be ok.

skipking

i am a member of a gun club. game shooting on a sunday only 8 to 5. two bird bag limit.

meathstevie

skipking wrote: »

i am a member of a gun club. game shooting on a sunday only 8 to 5. two bird bag limit.

If that's agreed by majority in the club that's fine. It applies to all members and it's not restricted to certain ages or anything of that nature.

pfizer

I can't believe in this day and age that clubs around the country would put restrictions on youth to go out shooting especially when the law says that you can hold a gun at 16 years of age. Clubs should be encouraging youth not restarting them. In our own club we threw the rule book out the window a few years back we opened up to 7 days shooting no bag limit and we've never looked back. The ethos of the club now is to encourage youth into shooting. Thats why we have a youtube challenge, instagram, twitter, vimeo and a website. The club now has 17 youth members ages from 9 years of age to 18 years.

berettaman

You allow shooting 7 days a week?:eek:

How does that work during the season when you may have lads who are working and unable to shoot and lads who are not?

For a scenario..if you had two lads with free time and they shot Monday to Friday..no bag limits etc. They can put their feet up at the weekend..You then have lads who only get out at the weekend. all they have are boot prints and feathers, no?
I am curious as the rule book is gone etc and you have a finite amount of birds...
And if land is beings shot that much do the birds not move on elsewhere?
Just wondering...

meathstevie

berettaman wrote: »

You allow shooting 7 days a week?:eek:

How does that work during the season when you may have lads who are working and unable to shoot and lads who are not?

For a scenario..if you had two lads with free time and they shot Monday to Friday..no bag limits etc. They can put their feet up at the weekend..You then have lads who only get out at the weekend. all they have are boot prints and feathers, no?
I am curious as the rule book is gone etc and you have a finite amount of birds...
And if land is beings shot that much do the birds not move on elsewhere?
Just wondering...

Well the alternative is that members who work most weekends get hardly any shooting at all and they've paid membership as well. It's asked of members to show some restraint and keep in mind that they're not the only person in the club who likes to shoot a pheasant. If there's someone out there who's hell bent on shooting all that moves they'll do it anyway, no amount of flowery rhetoric at a meeting or agm is going to change that sort of a character.

berettaman

I understand that some members might have to work weekends. We have a rule that you can hunt mid week if you give up one of your weekend days which seems fair enough.
I don't see how 7 days a week shooting will help things but I was interested to hear how other clubs do it.

Always looking for ideas to improve things..

jimf

foxkiller100 wrote: »

Sorry this rule is in the pipeline and wasnt proposed at the agm but im sure it will be brought in before november the 1st

if this wasn't proposed at the agm how can the rule be changed before the 1st of November

maybe im wrong but surely the majority of members would have to vote in this rule change am i missing something

this is how our club implements any rule changes

shotie

too many rules destroy a club. no such rules here just shoot away be it 1 day or 7 days and be safe, no bag limits either .