Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009

Sparks

Says we could be looking at 10,000 licenced handguns in ten years in Ireland and he believes society doesn't want that (shades of Dev looking into his heart there...)

Talking about looking at the website of a gun dealer in the west (looks like shoot.ie from the printout) and how you can buy guns online there, all manner of bad guns like the Sig Mosquito ( :rolleyes: ).

Sparks

Wants pro-handgun people to explain how more handguns would benefit anyone bar their owners. (!)

Sparks

Says that the Dail never wanted handguns licenced.

Sits down, Joe Costello rising.

meathshooter

He done us no favours

Sparks

Commenting that the bill is a bit of a hodge-podge and that it's questionable if it affects crime, and that the purpose of the house is to make relevant legislation.

Civil liberties must be kept in mind when drafting and debating this legislation.

The nature of criminal justice legislation is worrying - the previous Minister brought in enormous amounts of legislation (more than any other department) but the effectiveness of this legislation is questionable.

Sparks

Moving to the handgun ban.

Sparks

Saying that things like tax clearance certs and personal imports would have been squared away long ago. That there should already be a register of dealers but obviously there isn't as we're amending the legislation.

Handguns have been the main weapons used in crime of late, their ready availability means every criminal gang is out with them, and ordinary people may be carrying them for self-defence.

Some have come in with drugs.

Sparks

The drugs-guns link bothers him enormously.

Pointing out the rise of gun crime in the six years since McDowells "last sting of a dying wasp" comment, despite a factory of legislation coming from the Minister for Justice.

Sparks

Talking about a flood of violent process coming down from the North since the peace process; decommissioning needs to be revisited as it's obviously not happened and those weapons and their dissident owners are now showing up in Dublin with pipe bombs and such.

Sparks

Talking about the good old days when the drugs problem was just Heroin, and it's a shame we didn't jump on the problem back when it was just Heroin and just in Dublin...

Sparks

Wants there to be a plan to deal with the next new crime to happen before it happens, complaining that the legislation is always written to deal with existing crimes...

Sparks

Pointing out that the CJA2006 created provision for a register for drug offenders, but in 2009 it still hasn't been created even though it's been needed for years.

Sparks

Making the point that legislation is dependant on enforcement of that legislation.

Sparks

And sitting down. Missed the next Deputy's name.

Straight into handguns, laying out what the bill says.

Sparks

It's Joe Carey (Claire).

Saying he agrees with the Minister about gun culture, doesn't want to have the NRA in Ireland because of school shootings.

Sparks

"Having said this"... he thinks we'll miss the point they're trying to address. The Firearms Acts are about recording details of legally held firearms, but how this will restrict the proliferation of illegally held firearms by criminals isn't clear.

Sparks

Saying the real problem is drugs and this is what has to be addressed. Cocaine is bad, and now the deadly drug Heroin is taking hold throughout the country (this just after the last speaker said Heroin's been around since 1979 and wasn't so bad as the deadly drug Cocaine. I'm not saying TDs need to be experts on drugs, but a bit of consistency there lads... )

Sparks

thinks we need to redress the balance (sic) of how the legislation targets licenced handgun owners.

"Some confusion" about stolen licenced handguns. Someone who fails to report a stolen firearm needs to be breaking a law. (fair point actually)

Sparks

There should be no excuse to carry a knife in public, and the excuse that it's just a kitchen knife should not be a defence (that's the last time I buy a knife for the kitchen and take it home then I guess).

Welcomes the provision on samurai swords.

Sparks

Doesn't agree enough is being done to tackle knife crime.
Lots more folks arrested, not many convicted.

Sparks

An educational programme for secondary schools is needed to stamp out knife crime, but the ones that the Minister has already implemented have failed miserably.

Sparks

Happy that admin details are to be taken from the Gardai and put in An Post.
Thinks there has to be a better use of Garda time, but who will be taking over (is it An Post?)

Grizzly 45

Guess,broad swords,cutlasses,and sabres will now be Ok to carry in public???:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

packas

Sparks wrote: »

is aware that some people think they should be able to have any firearm licenced to them once they pass the preconditions, this is unacceptable, it'd make us into the US.

They seem to quite conveniently forget that in USA law abiding citizens can own guns for self defence. That puts a whole different spin on firearms in the USA compared to Ireland where we have them for target shooting & hunting only. So based on that there's no way we can ever have a gun culture like the USA. I wish they'd stop comparing us to the USA

Sparks

Stuff now about the EU arrest warrant.

Grizzly, you saying that medieval japanese didn't use broadswords?

Sparks

Packas, I know what you mean - if any poster in here posted an argument the way these TDs do, they'd be banned for being muppets in a day.

Deputy now winding up by saying Minister can't impinge on legitimate sports.

Sparks

Minister Curren now concluding the debate.

hk

bit disheartening when you email all of the justice committee, and to date have only received one response. Anybody else do the same and get better feedback?

Sparks

Minister now saying w.r.t. the handgun amendments, he thanks Flanagan and Rabbitte for their broad support. He's of the opinion that handguns must be controlled. He's saying that the handgun ban is not to tackle gun crime, that that's Operation Anvil's job.

Grizzly 45

Nope, who is this current muppet speaking???:(
He is talking out his A££E about practical shooting.He is referring to Defensive shooting!