Dear Editor,
I read John Burke's article in November 16's edition of the Post with
some alarm. It stated that Gardai are powerless to impose restrictions
on the licencing of handguns. I was alarmed because this is not true.

The Superintendent applied to for a firearms licence is the persona
designata in Irish law. This fact, established by Dunne v Donoghue
(2003) in the Supreme Court, means that no person in Ireland - not the
President, not the Taoiseach, not the Minister for Justice, not the
Garda Commissioner, not the Seanad, not the Dail, and not any of the
courts - is allowed to direct a Superintendent to grant or to refuse a
licence. The decision is his and his alone to make - and he is bound,
by law, to refuse any such application if he feels it would represent a
threat to public safety or to the peace.

There have been court cases taken against Superintendents for refusing
licences in the past. Each and every single one of these cases was a
Judicial Review - where the court merely checks that the decision was
legal under the Firearms Act. In many cases, it was not - and in those
cases the Courts sole power is to direct the Superintendent to revisit
his decision. The Court cannot direct him to grant the licence. The
Superintendent is perfectly free to refuse the licence subsequently, on
different grounds. He cannot, for example, refuse a licence because it
was applied for on a Tuesday. He can, however, refuse it on the grounds
of public safety or on the grounds that the applicant has no secure storage
for the firearm, or any one of a number of different criteria which have been
in the Firearms Act since the founding of the state. That distinction is the
sole point of the judicial review cases which have been brought.

The Commissioner's comments that he is also powerless to issue
guidelines on licencing is also factually incorrect. He does have
this power, and has always had it. Indeed, the most recent guidelines
were issued to the Superintendents only this May, by the National
Crime Prevention Unit (which the Commissioner outranks) on the topic
of secure storage. What the Commissioner cannot do (and again, this is
established by the Dunne case) is to issue orders to a Superintendent
to grant or refuse a licence. Guidelines, however, he may issue at his
discretion. And that will be explicitly covered when the relevant section
of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 is commenced, which we expect to
happen shortly - but it is not required in order to grant him this authority.

Further, it should be pointed out that the Gardai, the Department
of Justice, the Irish Farmers Association, the National Association
of Regional Games Councils, the Irish Sports Council, the various
governing bodies of the shooting sports including the National Target
Shooting Association, Firearms dealers and other stakeholders in the
area of firearms law, all sit on the Firearms Consultation Panel
in order that concerns such as those reported can be dealt with in
an efficient, safe manner, with the benefit of enormous amounts of
technical knowlege brought to the table by the stakeholders involved.
It is difficult to see why, when such a powerful forum for resolving
these concerns is available, it is not being availed of by the Gardai
if they have such concerns.

Finally, there are a number of counterpoints to the recent media
scaremongering on legally held firearms which must be made:

(*) The number of pistols licenced in Ireland per capita has fallen by 20% since 1971.
(*) Since 1971, our firearms laws have been tightened three times, making ours the most restrictive laws in the EU.
(*) Every single licenced firearm in Ireland is licenced to someone who was personally approved as safe to own and use that firearm by a Garda Superintendent.
(*) Garda Superintendents have exceptionally wide-ranging powers when it comes to granting or refusing licences. They can - and do - require gun safes, home inspections, house alarms, access to medical records, proficiency courses and membership of authorised firearms ranges.
(*) Firearms ranges are also inspected and authorised by the Gardai, to exceptionally high construction and safety standards. Many firearms ranges have spent tens of thousands of euros to come up to the Gardai requirements over the past two years.
(*) While there is a distinct difference in how many pistol licences are granted by different Garda Districts, this is caused by the requirement to be a member of an approved range - more licences are granted in areas closer to approved ranges.

Yours in Sport,

Dear Sir,
I read in today's Examiner that Deputy Deasy feels he has been the subject of hate mail from "hardcore gun enthusiasts". Firstly, I wish to point out that Deputy Deasy's comments in recent days have all but accused legitimate firearms owners of being responsible for the rise in gun crime in this country. He - and Deputy Mitchell - have both been called in by Deputy Kenny on this matter and instructed to attend a pistol range to learn what they're talking about. Here is the email we received from him on this:

Thanks. Charlie Flanagan is the Fine Gael spokesman on Justice. I fully understand your position. No statement has issued from the Fine Gael Front Bench about this.

I spoke to Dep Flanagan and asked that he and Dep Deasy attend at a pistol range and actually see just how regulated this sector is.

Hoping he can do so shortly.

Enda Kenny.

He is also meeting with the shooting bodies this week to further discuss the grossly offensive statements made by Deputies Deasy and Mitchell.

I'm personally rather annoyed that you printed the Deputy's comments without any right of reply from firearms owners. Last week, in response to Deputy Deasy's original comments which began all this nonsense, I sent you the following email, which remains unpublished and unacknowleged:

Dear Editor,
In recent weeks, Deputies Deasy and Mitchell and others have engaged in scaremongering on a widespread scale in the media (including this newspaper), saying that there has been a massive rise in the licencing of pistols, and attempting to link this alleged rise to the recent rise in levels of gun crime. As a licenced firearms owner, I wish to offer the following counterpoints:

(*) The number of pistols licenced in Ireland per capita has fallen by 20% since 1971.

(*) Since 1971, our firearms laws have been tightened three times, making ours the most restrictive laws in the EU.

(*) Every single licenced firearm in Ireland is licenced to someone who was personally approved as safe to own and use that firearm by a Garda Superintendent.

(*) Garda Superintendents have exceptionally wide-ranging powers when it comes to granting or refusing licences. They can - and do - require gun safes, home inspections, house alarms, access to medical records, proficiency courses and membership of authorised firearms ranges.

(*) Firearms ranges are also inspected and authorised by the Gardai, to exceptionally high construction and safety standards. Many firearms ranges have spent tens of thousands of euros to come up to the Gardai requirements over the past two years.

(*) While there is a distinct difference in how many pistol licences are granted by different Garda Districts, this is caused by the requirement to be a member of an approved range - more licences are granted in areas closer to approved ranges.

(*) In 2007 the Gardai, the Department of Justice, the Irish Sports Council, the governing bodies of target shooting sports, firearms dealers and other stakeholders, all came together to found the Firearms Consultation Panel under the aegis of the Minister for Justice. This groundbreaking body allows all parties to find safe, efficient, well-informed solutions to the concerns of those who use firearms and those who draft and those who enforce firearms law.

In short, the concerns that Deputies Deasy and Mitchell and others have attempted to raise are not based on facts or statistics or current procedures, and serve no useful function other than to scaremonger in the lead-up to the local elections. This is a shameful act on their part.

Yours in Sport,

As you can see, it addresses Deputy Deasy's comments. This email is typical of the emails the Deputy has received - if he feels that emails which point out that the facts don't support his concerns constitute "hate mail", I suggest he grow a thicker skin. If you wish to see more of the emails which were sent to him, they are available online here:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055416847

This is not the first time the Examiner has published erroneous material which portrays our sport in an unjustified and highly negative light. I was myself the subject of one such case two years ago, when you published a letter attributed to me which I had not written. I was assured at that time by yourself that the Examiner would always seek both sides of such stories, and we have always been available to discuss such matters with you; why are you now printing such erroneous nonsense without so much as reading the emails we send, let alone contacting us?

BornToKill wrote: »

All these emails and letters to the editor are a mistake. Although each may be technically correct on minor points, we are only playing into the hands of those who want to highlight the issue for their own purposes and the longer this 'debate' continues the more pressure for something to be done.

dimebag249 wrote: »

Okeeey. Sorry if a reply similar to this's been posted, I haven't gone over all the posts from the last few days. I got this from John O'Mahony T.D., Fine Gael spokesperson for sport.




Rock on John. I generally vote FF, but if people were to contact John and tell him that they appreciate has rational, calm approach to the issue, it might do more good than writing to an idiot politician pointing out how wrong they are...