Minister "considering tightening up gun laws"

Rovi

From unison.ie (Irish Independent website)-
(My emphasis in italics)

McDowell condemns 'contract murder'
16:55 Friday April 15th 2005

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has condemned last night's shooting in Dublin in which a 26-year-old man was killed.

It took place at on Sackville Avenue off the Ballybough Road in the north inner city just after 10pm.

Minister McDowell said today that it seems to have been a drug-related deliberate contract killing.

He said that he would be considering tightening up gun laws to crack down on these types of attacks.

and from rte.ie-
(again, my emphasis in italics)

McDowell condemns Dublin shooting
15 April 2005 17:22

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has condemned last night's shooting off Ballybough Road in Dublin.

Mr McDowell said it seemed to have been a drug-related and deliberate contract killing.

He said he was mindful to strengthen the law in relation to firearms.

The shooting took place at the Croke Villas flats complex on Sackville Avenue off Ballybough Road just after 10pm.

It is understood that at least one person approached the victim, who had been sitting in a car, and shot him five times in the head.

The 26-year-old victim was taken to the Mater Hospital but died a short time later from his injuries. He is the third man to be shot dead in Dublin in the last two weeks.

It appears that the killer escaped on a motorbike. The scene was sealed off by gardaí.

A post mortem examination will take place later today.

Hmmmmmm.......................................
These contract shooters are going to be well pissed off when the Superintendent won't renew their Firearms Certificates, or insists that they pass a recognised training course, or asks to inspect their security provisions, aren't they?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

.

Clash

He said he was mindful to strengthen the law in relation to firearms

I know it's jumping to conclusions, but I'm minded to think that he meant firearms offences Anything else just doesn't make sense, but does if you put a reporter between the minister and the quote. :rolleyes:

Longslide45

AND of course we have Cheif Super Conroy going on again about the number of firearms stolen recently....HELLO!! this drug dealer was shot with a small calibre handgun!!Unless there already has been a nicked pocket pistol off somone ,I fail to see the co revelance of cheif super Conroys statement.but because it came from the cheif it must be revelant and vital that the minister acts at once on it.They just dont get it do they???

civdef

A report in the Irish Times yesterday dealt with the number of firearms stolen in recent years, the total was around 1200, including 28 handguns. Now unless these were robbed from the Guards or Defence Forces, where were they taken from?

Elmo

I think The Minister for PD (Propaganda Distribution) needs to start enforcing the law rather then more sound bits.

jaycee

It appears that the killer escaped on a motorbike

That it... restrict motorbikes .. I fully agree

Longslide45

jaycee wrote:

That it... restrict motorbikes .. I fully agree

Turns out it was a scooter!
You are right we should immediately ban all scooters!Only a criminal would want such a cheap,easily disposed of, unsafe,underpowerd vechicle that can be easily bought and fall into the hands of "children"!
Ban Saturday Night Scooters!!!!

Elmo

Ban Saturday Night Scooters!!!!

See the minister has worked it out, why didn't we think of it?

Curfew everyone under the age of 16 and there will be no trouble.

This attack is exaltly what the minister needed to show us all that Guns, Scooters and by default children in general are bad.

Why has this tread been moved to the shooting fourm? is this any evil plan by the Minister?

Longslide45

As of today according to the Irish Indo,[Mon 18]it will be an offence to saw off the barrel of a shotgun!This is Mc Dowells NEW master plan t o prevent criminals using firearms!!
Brilliant!! Enforce a law that has been on the statue books since 1925!!!!Never mind not upgrading it to cover cut down rifles.The editorial comment is a howl on this!Basically, it MIGHT stop criminals,who regulary import full auto weapons from cutting down a shotgun barrel.And of course us ligitmate shooters are somhow to blame for this because our guns get stolen,therefore we MUST be compelled to stop criminals getting acess to our guns with saftey conditions and procedures!!

Good morning from the Banana republic!!

Aid the Blade

that chap got shot 5 times in the head,ie it wasnt an accidental discharge or punishment attack gone wrong.yer man set out to kill him,nothing else.if some one is out to kill someone then they know that they are lookin at life(ie 5-8 years) i dont think they give 2 f*cks as to what they are goin to get extra for downsizing their weapon."yeah i better make sure i kill someone wit a stolen but legal longarm just in case i get an extra 6 months for nippin a foot or 2 off it.i suppose it will tighten up my pattern somebit"
if anything it will make criminals more effecient, but i suppose thats a good thing as long as they are wiping out each other,....and not securicor men

civdef

I had a look once, and couldn't find anything in Irish law setting a minimum length for shotgun barrels.

Anyway, why noy just nick people for illegal possession of fireearms rather than worrying whether it's a sawn-off or not?

It's time existing laws were enforced properly - with more severe sentencing being perhaps the most obvious example.

Sparks

civdef wrote:

I had a look once, and couldn't find anything in Irish law setting a minimum length for shotgun barrels.

Never seen anything like that either. There's the definition of a "sporting firearm" that includes shotguns with a length over 18 inches, but there's no law saying you couldn't have a licence for an "unsporting" firearm, just the now-defunct Gardai/DoJ policy.

Anyway, why noy just nick people for illegal possession of fireearms rather than worrying whether it's a sawn-off or not?
It's time existing laws were enforced properly - with more severe sentencing being perhaps the most obvious example.

Exactly. The lessons from Hungerford, Dunblane and Abbeylara were all the same - you need to enforce the laws properly or you might as well not write them at all (though in fairness, Hungerford showed that it's not just the police who have to enforce the laws, ordinary citizens have to report violations to them as well or the system doesn't work).

Longslide45

Hmmm,
Guess I was misinformed on this one.Last time I enquired of DOJ and Garda Ballistics was the min length was 24 ins.From breech face to muzzle.And one gun owner I know had for sale a REM1187 with a 20in barrel that was an ex ERU test gun.He had to weld a permenant muzzle break onto it to get it up to legal length.If it is only policy well then,but I doubt we will get anything shorter as I doubt they will decide between cut down illegally or factory made.

Sparks

Beh. I don't know where I was thinking of the 18 inches from, but I'd the wrong number in my head for some reason. From section 3 of the 1971 act:

In subsection (2A) of this section 'sporting firearm' means a
firearm (other than a firearm of a kind declared by an order under this
subsection for the time being in force to be especially dangerous) which is a
shotgun having a barrel of not less than 24 inches in length or an unrifled
airgun or a rifled firearm of a calibre not exceeding .22 inches.

Thing is, there's no law says you can't have an "unsporting" firearm (indeed, every pistol out there now from sidearm to olympic air pistol is an "unsporting" firearm under that definition), the section 2A referred to above says that an offence of illegal possession is more serious if it's not a sporting firearm, which makes a small bit of sense in a way (someone who's cert's lapsed through omission for an air rifle isn't as bad an offender as someone with an AK47 tucked away in the boot of his car outside a bank, for a silly example). So the law that says you can't saw off the barrels of a shotgun is needed, even if only to tidy stuff up. It's hardly groundbreaking, it's more a case of dotting i's and crossing t's.