As Minister Ahern proposes changes to the firearms section of the Criminal Justice Bill he must be made to realise that the licensed gun holders in this country are not the ones who are causing the problem according to Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael.
With the subtlety of a sledge hammer Minister Ahern has once again aimed his fire against the licensed firearm owners of this country. These sportsmen and women engage in various shooting competitions and the minister is attempting to criminalise them in an attempt to be seen as doing something as street gun crime is escalating out of control.
His first salvo is against one section of the gun fraternity who engage in the sport of pistol shooting. The logic of “because it could be stolen and used for crime” is laughable in an age when the streets of our cities are awash with illegal firearms which come as free gifts with drugs shipments.
This logic can next be applied to rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bows and arrows and darts. The minister obviously believes that disarming the people who engage in any of these sports will immediately encourage all of the criminal fraternity to turn up at their local Garda station and hand in their armoury of weapons. Members of the gun clubs have strict adherence to regulation for the storage and transport of their guns.
Gun owners support strict regulation for the safety of all and are quite willing to undergo whatever training and courses are necessary are necessary to keep the sport safe. Those who use guns for sport are now being treated like those who use guns as weapons and this is grossly unfair and illogical. Remember that this latest proposal is from the same brain team that brought us the e-voting, PPARS, removal of the Medical Card, and many many more ridiculous decisions.
The number of legally held handguns has increased dramatically in this country in recent years because it only became legal to own handguns in recent years. Sporting clubs which throughout our troubled past existed in the North of Ireland were only permitted in the South since there is a more peaceful atmosphere. Minister Ahern almost seems surprised that rifle and pistol clubs would require licensed guns and is now running around like a headless chicken in an attempt to restrict them.
Gun clubs do not cause crime. The guns that cause crime and death are the illegal ones held by criminals. Please do something about this, Minister, instead of penalising the well run and highly regulated gun fraternity. Children on the streets of Dublin are able to get their hands on handguns and the minister’s response is to attack the legitimate gun clubs who are astonished by his reaction.
Like the rest of the mismanagement of this country it would well behove our minister to address the real problems instead of wasting time and money fixing a problem that doesn’t exist. At this stage our country would be better served by just getting rid of this government rather than have to waste time battling each of their ridiculous decisions.
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