Stolen firearms seized in Limerick

spideog7

Nothing too fascinating about firearms being seized in Limerick
But for the fact that they were stolen legally held firearms.

Superintendent Frank O'Brien, who headed up today's search operation, said all the firearms recovered had been taken during a series of burglaries from the homes of legitimate firearms holders.
He said it showed once again the importance of licensed firearms holders observing strict security arrangements to ensure the firearms do not fall into the hands of those involved in criminal activity who will then use them to take or threathen the lives of others.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1203/limerick.html

dresden8

It's probably fair to say the legal owners are in deeper doo doo and will be punished more than the scumbags who stole the firearms.

bullets

I did not see this on any of the papers
anyone got a scan of anything Newspaper wise??

I have been keeping a close eye on the papers
when it comes to Mr O'Brien out of all the Gardai I
have seen his face plastered all over the papers when it
comes to gun crime. I really hope he keeps a balanced opinion
on firearms for the legally held firearms in Limerick but personally
I think he wont. So I will be watching what comments he makes
publically through the media and will be scanning any articles I
see in the papers.

I've already written into a local Rag where Limerick Gardai have made
statements in court about firearms that appeared to be totally inaccurate
and the local reporters having to quote court comments that are simple wrong eg in July they reported that what looked like a Rusty Remington 700 a
pump action rifle worth 10,000 Euro.
etc etc etc etc .....
http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w70/bullets_ie/?action=view&current=10ksniper1.jpg
http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w70/bullets_ie/?action=view&current=leader21staug20071.jpg

My Local FO told me he does NOT approve licenses for Pistols at
all (yet today I was told by someone that theirs was just approved
for a Sig P229) and I am after getting a very long wait 3-4 months JUST asking for
an ammo limit increase to which the response was that I would be allowed
200 but not 500 rounds.

I'm all for safety and security having just spend my shotgun fund on an alarm
for the house but I "FEEL" as though I am been treated like a bloody criminal
when it comes to asking for simple Legal shooting related things for the sport.
A suitable ammo limit, Moderator permission etc should not take 3-4 months to issue permission. I feel as hough I need to Lick Arse and suck up and almost BEG
for simple things.

~B

kerryman12

Bullets I know how you feel. When I went about getting a new rifle I was told to forget anything above a .22 in my local area. In the end I got all organised in the area where i am currently living as opposed to where I was born and raised.

The problem is that some of these guys are enforcing personal opinions as opposed to the letter of the law. This forum is full of stories like this as you know.

Unfortunately it seems to be down to individuals to take legal action to try and get some consistancy in the law!

meathstevie

The difference from district to district is unreal..you'd swear these guys are trained the same way and should be singing of the same hymnsheet. It looks like you're on to a winner when the local super is a shooting man/lady and god help you when they aren't.

Sparks

What makes you think they're trained?

revan23

10 grand? and 4 grand for the scope? ffs where do they get these figures from. a brand new psg-1 is about 10 grand.

meathstevie

Well Sparks, as far as I know they all attend the same or at least similar courses through their carreer from basic recruit training to promotion courses and the lot. You'd expect a bit more consistency in all aspects of their brief. Then again can't say a bad thing about the crew in my area : very reasonable and nice to deal with .

As for the cost of the seized stuff in Limerick only one word of advice : let's hope the chap who gave that evidence doesn't become a gun dealer when he retires. He'll be setting a new set of standards altogether.

bullets

Someone mentioned before that there
was in fact a retired Garda that is a firearms dealer.
Cant remember where he is based or his name though.

~B

Sparks

meathstevie wrote: »

Well Sparks, as far as I know they all attend the same or at least similar courses through their carreer from basic recruit training to promotion courses and the lot.

That's the point really though - they don't get any special training in firearms legislation when they're appointed as firearms officers, not so far as I know. It's a case of "Mick, you're dealing with these now". And the standard garda training in firearms is not centred on the use of firearms for hunting or farming or sports
It's not hard to sympathise with their position really, even if you don't condone their responses - they're dropped into a position of liability without training or expertise; caution and conservatism, to the point of perversity, is simply a human reaction to that, not a malicious one. To my mind at least.
It's a good thing though, in that it means there's a simple enough solution - provide the training.

spideog7

You must remember also that it is their responsibility to "explain away" stories like this where legally held firearms fall into the wrong hands. And they have to tell this to normal Joe's who know nothing about the system of Firearms licensing in this country and who are inherently suspicious of things like guns, cause let's face it... they have a bad image.
We've always had guns in the house and it used to be nothing new to get woken up at 7am on a Sunday morning to someone firing at Magpies or something out the back field that had woken them up. Any visitors to the house always found this to be the wierdest thing ever and often looked kind of freaked out
(Never mind trying to explain the bundles of vermin hanging in the shed for vermin competitions !!!)

My point is that it's all about the public image of the sport, and for us that is very foreign and scary to so many people. The Gardai are seen as being responsible for monitoring us and making sure we don't do anything scary with our scary guns, public pressure is probably one of the biggest pressures :mad: