That's about the size of it alright.

As I have stated all along eg game estate clientele, clay shooters, pony club, university/collegiate funded Olympic toffs. All great "BROWN ENVELOPE" givers.

Absolutely true, votes count, always did, always will, don’t forget “parish pump politics”.

IFA are one of the biggest and most powerful organisations here, many TD’s/Councillors are either farmers/landowners or related to same, and lots have close links to the farming community which is a big voting bloc.

This is a big plus for the game/rough shooting community, IFA setup IFA Countryside to provide insurance cover which was acceptable to the farming community and they provide various supports to game clubs who use IFA-C insurance. Their insurance is available for single members, clubs (6 or more persons) and cover most rural pursuits (fishing/angling, game/rough shooting, clay pigeon shooting, target shooting etc.)

What riles me most is, we are a tiny country, a small population but we have numerous small organisations (each protecting their slice of the cake - can't blame them) who say they represent firearms owners/firearms users yet we have no one single organisation/group in place to contradict the many spurious claims made by various individuals/groups incl politicians on issues relating to firearms ownership/firearms use.

Maybe I’m simple minded, stupid or something else, I don’t know, we all get old……

Common sense to me says it wouldn’t (shouldn’t) be rocket science for all the current organisations who purport to represent us (game shooters, clay pigeon shooters, target shooters, pistol shooters, long range shooters, CF shooters, etc, ect, etc) to get together, form a small committee (one member from each organisation) whose sole aim would be to refute the stupid/spurious/ludicrous claims made by politicians, the anti-brigade and the general untruth’s which appear regularly on national media platforms relating to licensed firearms owners and licensed firearms use.

End of day it wouldn’t cost a penny,

a simple agreement by all the organisations concerned to issue a joint statement refuting the outrageous and stupid claims made by politicians, the anti-brigade and others, maybe then we can educate Joe and Mary public that we are not the USA, we are not a threat to them, that we are normal every day individuals going about our legal pursuits.

Whew, that’s my rant for today.

Off topic, but those aren't spelling mistakes. They're the predominant Irish/British usage, as opposed to the US variant, which uses the z.

I know I'm coming to the party late, so apologies if there is an abvious answer to this, but I have a queation after having read both FEC reports and filled n the survey....

A notable omission from the survey is SACF and CF pistols. And even in the FEC reports they say that "As the Members of the Committee could not find consensus regarding the suitability of centre fire semi-automatic rifles licenced after 18 September, 2015, they are not included in the list of firearms the Committee agrees should be licensable"

Does this mean the door has been firmly closed on the SACF rifles and CF pistols? Or are there other avenues to pursue here?

Apologies again for the noob question.

I'm not a member of any organisation, merely an average Joe who occasionally partakes in shooting related activities. As such my knowledge of what went on in the past and what may be happening behind closed doors at present is limited to what I read on these forums and on social media.

As is it appears to me that we have

a Minister,

whose agenda it appears is to push through the FEC report at all costs, whose selection of committee members requires further scrutiny, who rejected multiple requests from stakeholders to be included in consultations, who failed to acknowledge the concerns and withdrawl of support from a committee member and who continues to refuse to engage with stakeholders, even at the behest of political colleagues, even though his email to those who expressed interest in sitting on the FEC stated "In advance of any new or amending measures being introduced the Minister will be seeking to consult all relevant stakeholders"

a committee member,

whose selection is highly questionable, given that persons previous relations with shooting organisations, outwardly political views and affiliations and general in your face demeanour. Had committee selection been conducted on the same basis as that of a jury, this person should have been excluded.

another committee member,

who being the only active firearms dealer on the committee and was selected for his expertise in the area, withdrew his support of the FEC report before it was due to be sent to the Minister, on the basis that the draft report contained mistakes, errors and ommissions and the committee subsequently voted to omit his objections and proceed with the report.

the committee chair,

who, although there being objections from a committee member, and who subsequently withdrew his support, saw fit to omit said members objections and hastily sent the "finished report" to the Minister.

There may be other issues that a more astute legal mind could draw upon but surely there's enough there that our shooting organisations could use to torpedo this and bury Browne and the FEC.

If ye could swing it to an environmental issue related to animal management then you don’t need any spendies to go to the HC.. Just a thought..

I'm 50 now and this has to be the greatest crock of sh!t that I have ever seen..

These 'ba stars' have introduced cartridge nomenclature and are running with the calibre nonsense that the PTB want.

The crap over barrel lengths making current licenced units restricted.

Ffs they have just produced a crock of crap under the guise of being experts..

Any real expert would limit the burden on legislation and offer a practical solution to things. These clowns want their paws all over this and wernt able to contain themselves..

Cunty better be happy with the ball of pooh he has cleaved from his own crevis..

Its really the most ludicrous thing I've ever seen in Ireland.

Maybe we should ask the minister if he wants to ban anything with any risk.. lol

I thought the cops were utilised to catch criminals and not configured to confiscate my rights based on some minority report..

In truth, everything is over regulated with the Red (tape) Army making everything to complex and making homes all unaffordable and people have just given up trying to own them. The smart one know it’s a race to the bottom..

The gov.. would be better served cutting social welfare handouts and getting Irish men and women back out to work but instead they perpetuate the handout state, and instead they want to bring in unvetted males into Ireland, from outside Ireland and from areas were taboo crimes are prolific.

I think the real risk to society is not from licensed hunters/shooter/firearm enthusiasts but lies elsewhere..

Its a pity we are distracted by emotions and Hollywood marketing while all about is turning to crud..

Well we now have two report aimed at making the criminal justice system more robust.. ironic really when you consider that the majority of criminals have nothing to lose thus they can’t be controlled by normal checks and balances that control normal home owning tax payers.,

here’s an interesting pov https://youtu.be/BlIUWARCEfM