Firearm Licence and Age

Huxoin

Hello, i know the legality of air rifles has been discussed before but from what i gather, the same licence applies to all firearms. Is there any chance at all that a 16 year old would be given a licence for a firearm (air rifle) for use on their own land (plinking)? Their own land being the decent sized garden in a town. Or what if an adult applied? I have a feelin there needs to be a suitable amount of land or a club or something... but i wanted to check!
Also, what if you weren't a member of a club, but shot there?
Thanks!

Jonty

You're right on both counts. You need to be a minimum of 16, and have permisssion to shoot land or be a member of a target club. Shooting in the back garden of a town house doesn't sit well with the gards. Also you might need written consent from the house owner / parent to allow a firearm into the house.

rrpc

Jonty wrote: »

You're right on both counts. You need to be a minimum of 16, and have permisssion to shoot land or be a member of a target club. Shooting in the back garden of a town house doesn't sit well with the gards. Also you might need written consent from the house owner / parent to allow a firearm into the house.

Definitely need permission to shoot on land (minimum two land owners) and that's not your back garden, or be a member of a target shooting club.

You also do need permission of the house holder to keep the firearm.

Huxoin

ok, so I don't think it'll be easy for me! I don't really fancy becoming a member of a club... It costs way too much for the amount I'd use it. When you say land owners, how much land do they need to own? I have some relatives with a small bit of land, around 1 and a half acres or so, outside the town. if two of these signed, would that be acceptable? Is there any chance they'd refuse to issue the licence because of the age?

Jonty

1 acre sites are too small. You would need about 100 acres in total

Grizzly 45

It's not specified ASFIK in the acts.The rule is two landowners and/or club membership.100 acres would be somthing up in deer rifle calibres.
The most important thing would be that you have a secure backstop to catch the pellets,and where you shoot there is a 98% IM possibility of the pellet or bullet leaving your property.

Clash

Jonty wrote: »

1 acre sites are too small. You would need about 100 acres in total

1 acre is approximately 100 yards by about 40 yards, far too small to shoot safely on with no backstops or other safety measures. Even with an air rifle.

100 acres might be asking a bit much, but you still would need to have thirty or forty acres to shoot on safely.

Grizzly 45

Jeeze lads...How far do yer air rifle pellets travel???:)
You can shoot them safley with 10 meters indoors with a glorified tin box as a trap.As no doubt Sparks would/will tell us.:p
An acre with proper backstop is plenty for an air rifle.
30/40 acres would be with a 22 LR

Griffen262

Is there any chance at all that a 16 year old would be given a licence for a firearm (air rifle)

Ya about the above, is there any chance the gardai would refuse you because of you age. And what should you do or say if they did.


:pac:..........

Jonty

Once you are over 16 they cannot stop you from applying. The officer at the front desk cannot refuse your application, or even the Firearms Officer cannot refuse to accept your application. Its for the Super to decide. But no you cannot be refused on age grounds.

fish slapped

I've recently licenced a webely exocet .177 air rifle (about 22ft/lbs) and was wondering if the young lad could also get a licence for the same gun next year when he's 16. So that would be the two of us licenced on the same air rifle???

Rovi

fish slapped wrote: »

I've recently licenced a webely exocet .177 air rifle (about 22ft/lbs) and was wondering if the young lad could also get a licence for the same gun next year when he's 16. So that would be the two of us licenced on the same air rifle???

Absolutely.
I personally know of exactly such a case.
It's an excellent way of introducing a new (young) shooter to the system; they'll be under the instruction/supervision of the adult (well, 'older' anyway ) license holder, they avoid the whole 'secure storage' thing, and it gets them into the PULSE system and interacting with the Gardai at their local station in a GOOD way.
They'll almost certainly still have to produce their own landowners' permissions, or better still, membership of a target shooting club/range.

Have a chat with whoever deals with firearm certs in your local Garda station well ahead of time to suss out the lay of the land.

As I've said here before, I personally know of a young man who applied for his own license on his father's airgun the day after his 16th birthday, and he had the piece of paper in his hand 6 weeks later.