Minister for Defence - Willie O'Dea

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Selection between which weapons? What exactly is in the running? Any news of these pistols being issued to the RDF?

As for the minister, the ARW wouldn't "order" O' Dea, but if he has no weapons training then they have every right to order him not to point the weapon the way they did.

It was obviously safe and therefore the officer (Or whoever was in charge) didn't have any objections to it. Obviously wasn't the best thing to do, but people are taking this too far. It's total bull... Anyone would have done it without thinking about the aftermath.

Kryten

Ex military myself! The only time that weapon and ammo are united is on the range, with a range officer, only the shooters present, no press on the firing line and certainly no politicians. At all other times ammo is kept safely in stores.

When each weapon is drawn from the stores, safety precautions are carried out, When weapon is handed to another person, safety precautions are carried out. Basic TOETS ensure that everyone knows how to handle weapons safely and are tested on it every year. The Army have an impecable safety record. They run open days for children from time to time and let them handle the weapons in a safe environment.

As far as pointing weapons at other people, in my day the use of an aiming disk by our instructors was part of the syllabus. Like I say full safety precautions carried out every time a weapon is picked up or passed to another person.

So the Minister posing for a photograph is just that. Done in a safe and controlled environment, supervised by the experts!

Clare gunner

Indeed
Kryten,you have a safe method of training.BUT it still does not hurt to say even to a minister and an untrained civvie about rule no 1.
Obvisouly not in a SGT major way!;) More like ,dont do that Sir,theres a good fellow, type suggestion.As we cant crystal ball gaze and predict when Mr O Dea might pick up another weapon somtime in different circumstances,it might mean the difference between somones life and death.

Kryten

True, Apart from the aiming disk method of training that the army once used, You never point a gun at anything you do not intend to shoot. So I suppose the minister for defence, who is suppose to represent the Army, should know better. May seem like I am changing my tune a bit, but in hind sight the minister should have told the press reporter," are you mad, I will certainly not point a pistol at you". And on further reflection, the politicians tell us under what conditions we may have firearms, but they are the ones who dont have a bulls notion about them, (as Mr O'Dea has proven).

APOLOGIES if I seemed to be on "my high horse earlier" but I know for a fact that the military are extremely professional in their regard to firearm safety.

Sparks

Whatever about him picking up a firearm and injuring someone CG, I'm just ticked as he personally refused us pistol licences a few years back and now he's waving one about on the front page of the IT. :mad:

jaycee

Whatever about him picking up a firearm and injuring someone CG, I'm just ticked as he personally refused us pistol licences a few years back and now he's waving one about on the front page of the IT.

Amen to that ..!

Sparks

And proving that you can make a quick buck off just about anything:

http://www.cafepress.com/eireshirt.37955798

Clare gunner

Fair fuks to that enterprising soul in the T shirt biz;) .
Sparks, as Willie is down in my part of the world and I have to meet him and his underling regarding some roads coming into our property in the future.I'll mention this small fact to him ,not to mind the complete hames of the firearms and offensive weapons act 1990[1].In the nicest possible way of course.:D