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Shooting Forum - Firearms licencing information


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Do I need a license for this?

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  • 22-03-2014 12:26pm
    #1
    chem
    Registered Users Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭


    Or is it exempt some where in the law books?


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    #2
    rsole1
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭rsole1


    chem wrote: »
    Or is it exempt some where in the law books?

    Why would you need a licence for a bird scarer?


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    #3
    chem
    Registered Users Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭chem


    If I put a projectile into it, would it not fire it out at over one joule?? It then becomes a firearm under our laws.


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    #4
    Sparks
    Registered Users Posts: 40,038 ✭✭✭✭Sparks


    Section 2(4)(k) says you don't need a licence, but only if you're at an airport:
    (k) the possession, use or carriage of a firearm or ammunition for the purpose of bird control at an airport by an employee or agent of the airport authority who stands authorised in that behalf under this section.

    Other than that... I'd ask my Super. Asking for forgiveness may be better than asking for permission in other walks of life, but it tends to *&$% you up in firearms legislation. Odds are, you just need a letter of permission to cover your bum.

    (and if you think that thing's not a firearm, stick a potato in one end and set it off from a safe distance and watch the definition of "firearm" in Irish law as it embraces your new toy....)
    rsole1 wrote: »
    Why would you need a licence for a bird scarer?
    Because Irish firearms legislation is, in most edge cases, appallingly stupid.
    And it's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed in the mainstream cases either.


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    #5
    wexfordman2
    Registered Users Posts: 2,554 ✭✭✭wexfordman2


    chem wrote: »
    Or is it exempt some where in the law books?

    Look, it has an iron sight on it :-)


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    #6
    civdef
    Registered Users Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭civdef


    Sparks wrote: »

    (and if you think that thing's not a firearm, stick a potato in one end and set it off from a safe distance and watch the definition of "firearm" in Irish law as it embraces your new toy....)

    By that definition so is every car exhaust and waste water pipe in the country. This is clearly not a firearm and is outside the scope of the firearms act.


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    #7
    Sparks
    Registered Users Posts: 40,038 ✭✭✭✭Sparks


    civdef wrote: »
    By that definition so is every car exhaust and waste water pipe in the country.
    Yup.
    I don't think I've ever, in a decade or more, defended our law's definition of what is and is not a firearm. It's stupid, overly inclusive, poorly written, and in practical terms woefully deficient and causes more problems than it has ever solved, ever.
    Problem is, it's what's in the statute books, not the better wording that 95% of us could draft in a spare hour over our lunch :(
    This is clearly not a firearm and is outside the scope of the firearms act.
    I don't think that'd hold up as a defence in court. You'd have to annoy a Garda to get to that stage, but let's face it, it's not like that's so rare that it never happens.


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    #8
    bravestar
    Registered Users Posts: 1,082 ✭✭✭bravestar


    Lads, if you start firing stuff out of it, it's basically a home made morter. Expect to feel the long hard c€ck of the law making you it's b!tch.


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    #9
    chem
    Registered Users Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭chem


    My point is it is capable of firing a projectile, which is the letter in law for firearms here. I don't need to put anything in it to be a firearm under Irish law. So alot of farmers out their in posssion of an unlisence firearm!


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    #10
    rsole1
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭rsole1


    chem wrote: »
    My point is it is capable of firing a projectile, which is the letter in law for firearms here. I don't need to put anything in it to be a firearm under Irish law. So alot of farmers out their in posssion of an unlisence firearm!

    Well how would you be able to get the ammunition for your firearm? You could hardly put down 100 bottles.


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    #11
    Witcher
    Registered Users Posts: 14,976 ✭✭✭✭Witcher


    I think the Gardai use a bit of common sense here, if you have it on a farm they'll accept you're using it as a crow banger..if you have it in a 3 bed semi in south Dublin they'll probably be a bit suspicious.


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    #12
    Sparks
    Registered Users Posts: 40,038 ✭✭✭✭Sparks


    Yes, but...

    common-sense-superpower.jpg


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    #13
    Witcher
    Registered Users Posts: 14,976 ✭✭✭✭Witcher


    Yeah Sparks but I think most supers have some degree of common sense. They already know about gas bangers..they could go on to pretty much any farm and find one. They know farmers aren't firing potatoes etc. out of them for fun so they have no issue with the farming community having them.

    But as I said if you live in a town and have one with a bag of Kerr's Pinks or metal balls or something beside it you might find yourself in sh1t. I remember an airsoft site was firing potatoes out of a cannon at their site a few years ago and the local super found out and they were told just to get rid of it. The Gardai could do a lot of people for various things but I think they realise there is little benefit in jailing someone for having a potato cannon or a farmer with a gas banger.

    I couldn't imagine any farmer ever being penalised for having one.


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