Fears legal guns ending up in hands of criminals
Friday November 14 2008
THE Garda Commissioner is powerless to stop the increase in the number of legally held handguns -- which could be ending up in the hands of criminals.
The number of licensed handguns has increased from just one in 2003 to 1,800 now due to a relaxation in the licensing rules.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy yesterday said he was unable to give guidelines on the issuing of firearms licences to his superintendents -- and the courts were often over- ruling their refusal decisions.
"On the one hand, we have to licence Glock pistols; and on the other hand, we are seeing known criminals using these Glock pistols to kill people," he said.
According to figures from the Department of Justice, there are also 53,000 rifles and 77,000 shotguns in private ownership -- giving an overall ratio of one gun for every 17 people in the country.
Cmsr Murphy told the Public Accounts committee that careless private gun owners were inadvertently providing some of the firearms being used by gangland criminals. "I'm appalled on occasions to see where four and five shotguns have been stolen from houses. People have been driving around to see if there are gun dogs outside the house and they know there are shotguns," he said.
During the Troubles it was very difficult for private individuals to get licences for handguns in excess of .22 calibre. But the situation has changed due the lifting of a government order and a more permissive attitude to gun licensing in the courts.
Stolen
Cmsr Murphy said that gardai had seized around 800 firearms last year, many of which had been imported illegally but also some which had been stolen from legal owners who stored them "under the table".
"A lot of shotguns used in criminality are stolen. It's incumbent on anybody who has a legal firearm to take precautions," he said.
He is in discussions with Justice Minister Dermot Ahern about whether legislation is needed to allow him to issue guidelines on weapons permits.
Fine Gael TD John Deasy, who got his colleague Jim O'Keeffe to bring up the issue at the committee, welcomed Cmsr Murphy's contribution.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
