Waiting time for licence

Conor2688

Hi, new to boards and the shooting scene. I have put in an application for a gun licence for a beretta silver pigeon. Met with my local firearm officer in the last week of October and gave him all the paper work and certs etc, Really nice guy and he went threw everything with me and said it all looked in order and should be no issues with it been granted and he would get it up to the super as quick as possible. Have spoke with him yesterday and he said he is still waiting to hear back from the "powers above" im in Dublin 15, just woundering if anyone on here has experienced the waiting time for my area and know what i should kind of expect or does it just differ for each case? painful waiting for long not knowing where you stand and id love to have it for xmas to try get out for a few days.

Also anyone recommend any club around general dublin area to get out and have a few shots at clays to get a feel for it once the licence is granted?

Luckysasha

There is no logic or consistency to the license waiting time I'm afraid. For example I got my first .22lr rifle license in 10 days yet I had to wait 6 months for my pistol license. If your joining a range for clay shooting you can buy the gun and store it there until your license comes through.

Conor2688

Oh well i hope its nothing like 6 months,I have the gun bought and the seller has no issue in holding it till the licence comes back to me. Thats prob the most annoying part of it all is the fact there is no consistency to the hole process and it seems near impossible to get any sort of definitive answer to anything to do with it. Thought someone on here might have applied before from my area and could say how long it took them. Thanks for the reply!!

BillBen

A few guys I shoot with are in that area and have never had any problem getting their toys past

Sparks

Few things:
- There's no such thing as a Firearms Officer, it's just a shorthand term we've come to use which means "the Garda who gets tasked with filling in the forms in the station for the Superintendent". It's a handy shorthand, but don't confuse it with thinking that that officer has any legal authority to make decisions on applications.

- The firearms officer does not hear back from the Super when a licence is granted before you hear back. You receive notice of that directly from the Super's office so unless your firearms officer is working in the Super's office, you'll know before he or she does.

- The firearms officer does not "hear back from the powers that be" for these two reasons and also because there are no higher authorities in AGS who are permitted to direct the Superintendent on whether or not to grant an application (the sole person who can legally do so is a District Court Judge - and it has to be a District Court Judge rather than Circuit or High or Supreme court, due to an odd quirk in the law).

- None of the above three points should be considered a cause to be rude to the firearms officer. They usually don't volunteer for the role and they usually don't deserve crap for it either; but it's important to know the exact situation there so that neither party makes unreasonable demands on the other

- There is a legal mandatory maximum time for an application to be considered, of three months. If you have not heard back from the local super within that time frame, you are legally considered to have been refused and correctly notified of that refusal (again, a nice little part of the law).

Some common sense approaches are recommended for that last point; specifically, call the Super's office and check that they have received your application, that it's not just lost in internal post (a more cynical person might think that phrase to be a euphemism. I couldn't possibly comment). Once you know they have it, you have the start point for those three months. This is important in the less than 1% of cases that have problems, because there's another deadline after that; if you do not challenge a refusal within one month, your legal right to do so in the district court expires.

It's quite unlikely that you'll have any of these problems; the vast majority of applications are handled within the timeframe and properly. But just in case you happen to win that particular lottery, it's best to know what the situation is.

Conor2688

Billben i dont think i have a problem in getting it, was more just asking what seems to be peoples usual waiting time. Thanks for the reply all the same,

Sparks, i would never be rude to the firearms officer i actually found him really nice to deal with and very helpful on his end of things,couldnt speak any higher of the gentleman. Didnt know that i would hear back before he does handy to know so thanks for that. Im waiting about 6 weeks now so ill leave it another few and see what happens.

Thanks for all the info.

PSXDupe

The firearms officer does not hear back from the Super when a licence is granted before you hear back. You receive notice of that directly from the Super's office so unless your firearms officer is working in the Super's office, you'll know before he or she does.

Not sure I'd agree with that statement, I've got calls from the local firearms office letting me know the licence was approved and would be with me shortly. I know there is no official role as firearms officer but she always introduces herself as the firearms officer.

One thing I'd say about her is that she is extremely helpful. I've heard of other areas who do everything by mail, if they have a query you get notified by post. My local firearms officer she'll give you a call and if needs be you just drop in and get everything sorted.

Conor2688

Ye i agree the one I dealt with was great very helpful an i appreciate he has no real control with the decision, so all he can do is wait like me.

Not a big deal I'll just hang on and wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

Looking foward to getting it and getting out with it! ðŸ‘

MidlandsHunter

Hi Conor,

The wait is painful there is no doubt about it. The best thing I can do is tell you about my experience;

I Submitted my application at the end of July.

Didn't hear a thing until I got a letter at the end of October, inviting me to an interview with the Superintendent.

I met the super a week later. At the end of the interview he told me he was granting it, and signed the form.

Two weeks later I received the Firearm Grant Notification Letter (which made me very happy).

I payed the 80 euro fee in the post office a few days ago and am now waiting, not so patiently, for the physical licence. I'm not sure when this comes but I think its a week or less. Fingers crossed it will come Monday.


Now, variations can occur depending on your local station. This is due to human factors more than anything, such as the work ethic and urgency of your superintendent and/or your superintendents secretarial Gda.

I hope the outline of my experience puts your mind at ease as to how it CAN work. However if anyone gives you a timescale it is worthless, as nobody really knows for sure. My local firearm dealer told me I would have it in 8 weeks. He was so wrong yet he was the best person to ask. The best thing you can do is tell yourself that you will have it at the end of the three months and put it out of your mind. If you get it before then, its a bonus.

I hope it comes swiftly! Happy shooting.

Conor2688

Thanks for the reply midlands hunter.

Your experience seems worse than mine to be fair. Am i correct in saying once you get the grant notification letter you are ok to collect the firearm or do you have to wait for the physical licence to arrive?

Cass

The grant letter is not your license, but i have heard of people using it to collect the firearm but ONLY after they have attached the receipt from the post office to show the license was paid for. The grant letter on it's own will not get you the firearm.

The actual license is usually in your hand within the week from paying. Some RFDs might allow you to collect on the grant with receipt while others may demand the actual license. So you would be better off getting the actual license then going and collecting.

MidlandsHunter

Conor2688 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply midlands hunter.

Your experience seems worse than mine to be fair. Am i correct in saying once you get the grant notification letter you are ok to collect the firearm or do you have to wait for the physical licence to arrive?

I sent an email to my dealer asking him the same question. His reply - "Due to recent changes in policy, we can only hand out firearms to holders of the official yellow plastic licence''

Now this could just mean shop policy but if I were you I would either send an email to your dealer, or just wait for the licence, as Cass suggested.


I hope mine arrives before or when my exams end on Friday. I'm looking forward to not having to share my mates rifle and only shooting on his lands!

Rimfire Shooter

MidlandsHunter wrote: »

I'm looking forward to not having to share my mates rifle and only shooting on his lands!

Which you can only do if you have a licence for his rifle or it's being used on a Garda authorised range from what I was told recently by a Garda when I made an inquiry about my nephew using my rifle.

MidlandsHunter

Rimfire Shooter wrote: »

Which you can only do if you have a licence for his rifle or it's being used on a Garda authorised range from what I was told recently by a Garda when I made an inquiry about my nephew using my rifle.

Although this is true, during my meeting with my superintendent when he asked me what experience I had one of the things I said, apart from a competency course, was that I have been taken shooting several times and showed the ins and outs by a licensed shooter. I also stated the same on the competence section of the application. So although it may be the law, I don't think they are too bothered about license holders bringing non license holders on shoots.

MidlandsHunter

MidlandsHunter wrote: »

Although this is true, during my meeting with my superintendent when he asked me what experience I had one of the things I said, apart from a competency course, was that I have been taken shooting several times and showed the ins and outs by a licensed shooter. I also stated the same on the competence section of the application. So although it may be the law, I don't think they are too bothered about license holders bringing non license holders on shoots.

On private land, ofcourse.