An evening with Clare Gunner,

bullets

Just want to say cheers and thanks to some of the board members
for an entertaining and enjoyable Saturday.

Met up with Clare Gunner, Kramer and Vegeta this evening
for an introduction/Chat & shoot. Nice to finally meet ye guys.

CG if you get the chance could you send me on a pic of your dog
my girlfriend would love to see what a Rott-Boxer cross looks like.
One fantastic and friendly dog.

C.G.'s place is fantastic. One cool place. Took some shots at some
shoot and see targerts, some apple tart trays and some bowling pins of all things.
(Provided by Kramer) Managed to Hit and knock over a Bowling pin at around 180-190m
or was it yards with my .17 and that was with the rifle canted as the ground
was uneven and I had not my bipod adjusted. Rifle seems to perform better
at 100m than it does at 50. My scope really annoyed me as its
so so so crap,

We also tried to meet Willy O'Dea but he was not available so we met
up with one of his staff. The lads drove the point home that
there are roughly 220,000 shooters out there and that thats a lot of potential
votes.

~B

Clare gunner

Glad you enjoyed Bullets:D
190 Yards was the distance.Got to say those .17HMR rifles of yours and Kramers are really accurate.Best group I have shot in a long while.:D
Thats what a fun Saturday should be.:D

Being the dimwitt,that I am with digital cameras,I managed to delete the pics I took of us shooting[proably better as there is no evidence of bad marksmanship:o ]
PM me a email addy,and I'll send over the pic as I cant get it to transfer on the PM on the boards here.
Regds
CG

Kramer

bullets wrote:

Just want to say cheers and thanks to some of the board members
for an entertaining and enjoyable Saturday.

Nice to finally meet ye guys.

Yep, 100% agree. It was great meeting you guys & I really enjoyed the chat/craic/shooting.

Many thanks to CG for hosting us & I also agree, that's one nice place you have there CG.

It does look like we had a result with our minister too..........commitment for a 5yr OMOL!!! I'll leave it to CG to expand, if he wants.

All in all, a great evening was had by all & hope to meet up with you guys again soon.

Kramer

Clare gunner wrote:

190 Yards was the distance.Got to say those .17HMR rifles of yours and Kramers are really accurate.Best group I have shot in a long while.:D

Yep, nice shot from Bullets @ 190yrds. It's a cracking little round.

Being the dimwitt,that I am with digital cameras,I managed to delete the pics I took of us shooting[proably better as there is no evidence of bad marksmanship:o

I'm delighted they got wiped TBH.............photographic evidence of us lot could only be bad for shooting sports in Ireland . Let's face it, we're not the most "camera friendly" group of blokes what with the tatoos, ear rings & facial hair .

Anyway, enjoyed the evening.....'twas good craic .

Clare gunner

OK,I am still from Missouri on this one.
But after me,Kramer,Vegeta and Bullets met Willie O Deas councillor /secetary on this issue,and laid it out about the dumb situation of the three year liscense and the extortionate fees involved,and that a UK type situation of 5 years with a OMOL would be more appropriate.Also discovering that Willie O Deas secetary is a gun owner as well,but more a farming type shooter[takes it out once a decade for a flake at a pheasent type shooter:) ] He agreed with us and said he would consult Willie on it on Sunday morning.

True to his word.Sunday 12noon,Minister O Dea,his Sec and I belive Missus O Dea where at my door.Minister O Dea stated that it is indeed a totally stupid situation this liscensing situation,and that it is indeed more sensible a 5year OMOL at somthing around UK prices would be more in order.This would be attended to if they get back in power in their "crime manifesto".And that he would be more than happy to come out shooting at my place to try it after the elections.:eek:
So thats the story,Rory.:D

rrpc

That sounds like very good news CG, and although Willie O'Dea is not minister for justice (yet) It's good to know at least someone in the outgoing government would support OMOL. (nice to see my acronym going into public usage )

I think that it might be useful to use O'Deas acquiescence as a starting point to create an auction for the forthcoming election. After all there's no guarantee that his party will be in power. Bear in mind that Ruairi Quinn and Brendan Howlin were also supportive of us, so we could push the Fine Gaelers to come out and up the ante.

Once one of them falls, it'll be like dominoes

Vegeta

my rifle shooting badly aside, it was such a great laugh and hope we can do it again soon.

Yeah i'd say photos of us being deleted is prob a good thing. We're hardly poster boys for shooting and hunting.

Again thanks CG loved every minute of it

Sparks

Isnt' that a bit of a change of direction for O'Dea? Wasn't he was the chap who happily told us only a few years ago that pistols were far too dangerous to have in civilian hands?
Not saying it was an election promise kindof statement, y'understand...

Clare gunner

True he did,but a stint in any mans army changes a mans opinions and his life.Cant get much better than being min of defence:D .Plus after his gaffe with the handgun last year,he has had a bit of a road to Damascus conversion methinks.At least he is willing to try it and make his own mind up on it.Have any of the others anyone has talked to expressed an intrest in trying some form of shooting,or have we offerd?

D'Arcy in Wexford is quite pro gun, and lets people hunt his land

bullets

I have often thought that surely there are politicians, Members of the Garda
etc out there that enjoy shooting as a pastime/sport.

It would be great if we knew some members of the GARDA and politicians that
actually were shooters in their spare time.

The lad we were talking to surprised me when we were talking to him
as he expressed interest in seeing a shooting range for himself.
I had mentioned Midlands range and safety/security he seemed surprised that
thay had security cameras outside and on the range.

Imagine if there were a few GARDA members or TD's/Ministers who shoot
say for example Pistol and F-Class. At least then when shooters
ran into the issues like a restricted list or crazy conditions that Supers impose
they would be beneficial when it came to getting our voices heard so
there may be less condemning of the sport.

If more politicians or people of influence were invited along to say the likes
of big shooting events such as guest of honor etc (make them feel important :-) )
it may change the outlook to a more positive attitude in general.

~B

Vegeta

maybe one of us should run for some form of seat on something????

Sparks

Feel like giving up that much of your life?
Looking at the numbers, there are 17,000-odd firearms certs in the Wicklow Garda district. If that translated to two firearms per person, it'd be 8500 votes if they all voted en masse (which they won't), which would be only 500 below the quota to be elected. So you might get a seat, if;
1) Everyone voted for you first regardless of their personal political affiliations;
2) The garda district matched the electoral one;
3) There are an average of 2 firearms per person;
4) You got 500 transfers or votes from shooters' family members.

So it's a possibility, but I think (1) there would stymie you before you got off the ground.

Sparks

Sparks wrote:

Feel like giving up that much of your life?
Looking at the numbers, there are 17,000-odd firearms certs in the Wicklow Garda district. If that translated to two firearms per person, it'd be 8500 votes if they all voted en masse (which they won't), which would be only 500 below the quota to be elected. So you might get a seat, if;
1) Everyone voted for you first regardless of their personal political affiliations;
2) The garda district matched the electoral one;
3) There are an average of 2 firearms per person;
4) You got 500 transfers or votes from shooters' family members.

So it's a possibility, but I think (1) there would stymie you before you got off the ground.

INDEPENDANT!

Worked for Twomey

rrpc

Sparks wrote:

Feel like giving up that much of your life?
Looking at the numbers, there are 17,000-odd firearms certs in the Wicklow Garda district........

That's the Wicklow/Wexford region. Administered by Gorey I think.

Sparks

Yeah, I thought the districts didn't match the constituencies allright.

hillybilly

bullets wrote:

Imagine if there were a few GARDA members or TD's/Ministers who shoot say for example Pistol and F-Class. At least then when shooters ran into the issues like a restricted list or crazy conditions that Supers impose they would be beneficial when it came to getting our voices heard so there may be less condemning of the sport.

~B

There are plenty of Guards who shoot F-Class, Practical Pistol and Target Pistol, I'm not sure about TD's. Unless it's the Supt who is into target sports it wouldn't really make a difference as it's the Supt who has the final say.

bullets

hillybilly wrote:

There are plenty of Guards who shoot F-Class, Practical Pistol

I wonder how many read these boards...........
SOoooo.....calling all the Garda shooters out there that may read
the boards care to voice your
opinions to yer supers in a postive manner ? That may
help this sport of ours.

~B

Clare gunner

hillybilly wrote:

There are plenty of Guards who shoot F-Class, Practical Pistol and Target Pistol, I'm not sure about TD's. Unless it's the Supt who is into target sports it wouldn't really make a difference as it's the Supt who has the final say.

True,but plan for the future on this.People get promoted and if they take a positive experiance with them from the past.It will[might] pay off when their beat becomes a desk.:)

Duty now for the Future[logo from DEVO]

Back at home there are a large number of guards and ex guards who shoot.. a bunch of them were involved in setting up a range.
Every time I have dealt with them, they have always been very friendly.

bullets

original_psycho wrote:

Back at home there are a large number of guards and ex guards who shoot..

Interestingly enough after mentioning the guards and shooting low
an behold as if by magic there is an article about the GARDA clay shooting
team on the Irish Shooters Digest!

~B