Is it really that difficult to get a 1st handgun lic???

Grizzly 45

Folks,
I am pleased to say a friend of mine got his first firearms lic today for a Walther P99 handgun .This I might point out is his 1st gun liscense EVER in Ireland.
No rifle or shotgun lic ever before applied for.Shooting experiance all right but outside Ireland.

Did all the appropiate things ,joined a gun club,joined the IPSA.Had the FAO in,safe inspected in attic[Lidil's best]. Decision in eight weeks.No problem.
Living in Limerick[yea,yea heard it all before:p] in a so so estate with a couple of "heads" fammillies in the neighbourhood.

Is this an abberation??Or a portent of better things to come??

Has anyone else had this experiance? I for one am amazed that he got it 1st time round myself.:eek::eek:

We have all heard the horror stories of people having trouble getting a handgun lic.So maybe this is becoming a thing of the past??

Sparks

99.35% Grizzly, remember?

cantona

Grizzly 45, We (IPSA) would appreciate that, before posting on this forum that you get your facts in order beforehand.

"Did all the appropiate things ,joined a gun club,joined the IPSA.Had the FAO in,safe inspected in attic[Lidil's best]. Decision in eight weeks.No problem.
Living in Limerick[yea,yea heard it all before] in a so so estate with a couple of "heads" fammillies in the neighbourhood."

Your friend applied to join the IPSA, but due to the fact that he was not in possession of a Firearms Cert, for a firearm suitable for an IPSC/IPSA discipline, his application was refused and he was furnished with the appropiate explanation.

The rule regarding an FAC has been, and will always be our number 1 rule and is inflexible, and implying anything to the contrary is unhelpful and false.

IPSA

Grizzly 45

OK well ATTEMPTED to join and has now refurnished you with the details.
Is it possible to make a mistake here anymore without being accused of bringing somebody or organisation into disrepute??

NOW,could we please get back On topic again,before I am accused of some other henious crime???:rolleyes:

99.35 %Sparks??????Sorry my cryptology is abit rusty today.Mind explaining for us thickos????

Vegeta

My bother got his pistol license no problem

Didn't even ask him to get a safe or alarm

Just joined a range

Have to say, my initial dealings with the gardai were poor and they still have some backdated policies e.g. no moderators for anyone

But in recent times they have been very good and I know if I went in tomorrow for a 6.5x55 or .308 for targets there'd be no problems

Chipboard

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

99.35 %Sparks??????Sorry my cryptology is abit rusty today.Mind explaining for us thickos????

Thats a statistic for the level of satisfaction amongst applicants for firearms certificates. It was calculated by Sparks in another thread based entirely on guesswork and supposition and means nothing. Statistics based on hard data often mean nothing so stats based on guesswork definitely mean nothing.

It wasn't me!

To be honest it seemed a pretty solid figure based on very tight reasoning, so I'd give it some weight, personally. If figures extrapolated from hard data mean nothing, then what do we work with? from what I could make out, the figure was at the conservative end of the scale as well.

Grizzly 45

Thanks guys..I never saw that post by Sparks.So that now makes sense...93% thats a good statistic.

It wasn't me!

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Thanks guys..I never saw that post by Sparks.So that now makes sense...93% thats a good statistic.

Nono, 99.35%, so even better.

Rovi

Well done to your friend Grizzly, it's good to hear the success stories.

On Sparks' 99.35% satisfaction figure, I don't know if I'd be quoting quite such a precise figure, but I think it'd be reasonable to say that 99% or thereabouts of licence applicants/renewals have a satisfactory conclusion; I'm sure many of them would like the process to be quicker or simpler, but they work out in the end.

For what it's worth, I think cantona was right to point out the correct situation as regards membership of IPSA. It's always best to correct erroneous information before it propagates itself.


Anyhow, well done to the new owner, and I hope they have many years of happy and safe shooting with their new acquisition.

Bananaman

My first FAC was also for a pistol - a Glock 9mm. I live in Dublin.

I joined a club - got a safe, got a monitored alarm, applied for my license, got my visit from the CPO, waited a wee while, got my license , got the gun - all good. It took a good while but we all know this is an area where you need the patience of jobe but so be it.

There have been stories of certain Superintendents etc who will not issue Pistol licenses in their area. In some cases they have been brought to court and shown the error of their ways. In Some cases people have accepted the explanation given to them by the super and in most cases people have gone quietly into the night and await the centralised processing on offer from the restricted list which should end such nonsense.

If you are not dis-entitled under the act, have a legitimate, demonstrable use for it and there is no appreciable risk of it being stolen while in your possession then you should have no problem getting it.

(Slowly removes rose tinted glasses)

B'Man

fishdog

99.35% Grizzly, remember?

This is not an accurate figure as pointed out in the other thread.

Thats a statistic for the level of satisfaction amongst applicants for firearms certificates. It was calculated by Sparks in another thread based entirely on guesswork and supposition and means nothing

Exactly.
It would only be accurate if all of the applicants that were unjustly refused firearms certificates took legal action which is not the case.

Sparks

Did you even read the justification for that figure fish? I assumed that half the cases where someone was unjustly refused a firearm were not reported. I didn't even count the times where someone is justly refused - and like it or not, such cases do exist. I then further assumed that the NARGC would seek the cases most likely to win, and I assumed one in ten cases would be chosen. Based on that, we have the 99.35% figure. Now you can question the assumptions merrily, I'll even join in - for example, let's say not getting your firearm is as scarring an experience as rape. The estimates are that only one in ten rapes are reported, so lets say that one in ten refused certs are reported (anyone else feeling this is ridiculous and frankly a bit insulting yet?). The percentage is now 96.5%. As before, 3.5% is too high, but still not enough to get out the pitchforks and torches and start a revolution.

Thing is, we can play with my estimate all day long, and you can criticise it until the cows come home, but I don't see you or anyone else putting forward anything even coming close to hard data. Where's your figure for the number of unjustly refused certs? I don't mean anecdotes and "my mate told me about his mate who heard from so-and-so down the pub that he got hard done by by the local cops" stories, I mean actual numbers, or at least estimates with reasoning attached.

sevenfivecz

joined club - completed probationary period and courses. Once I applied it took 2 weeks to get a pistol license. This was my first firearms certificate. Are there normally long waiting periods / issues with getting an FAC - or is that the normal sequence of events?

dimebag249

Jeeze, does the exact figure really matter? I think it's not that relevant anyway, as the number of people that DON'T apply for a firearm because they THINK they'll be unjustly refused might be higher. From experience, some people say "I'd love to get a .223 for foxes, or a pistol, but the guards mightn't let me". For every lad in Kilkenny (or wherever the hell it was) that were refused a .223, there were probably a bunch that said "I won't even bother".

"Why do I keep using these allegorical quotes to illustrate a point", another guy said.

Anyway 3.425253538953879738947589473894521123€®خ⅛ per cent of people don't apply for fear of an unjust refusal.

fishdog

Did you even read the justification for that figure fish?

Yes.

I wont quote satisfaction figures because like you I dont have them!

I do know many, many people that were unjustly refused. This was illustrated by the fact that after different lenghts of time all of the decisions were reversed!

I have heard first hand alot of inaccurate information from the authorities about firearms and the law relating to them.

Sparks

The exact figures (by which I mean to an accuracy of around 1%) don't matter dimebag, but whether it's 95% plus who are satisfied or 95% plus who are dissatisfied matters a great deal!

fish, how many is "many, many" anyway? Is it 5? 10? 50? 100? 10,000? 220,000? 4,000,000? Don't wave your hands in the air and fudge it man, give us at least an approximation. Light a candle rather than curse the popped lightbulb and all that.

fishdog

I will PM you!