SENIOR GARDAÍ will have the power to inquire into the physical and mental health of anybody applying for a firearms licence under new measures being introduced by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
The new legislation will also require applicants to submit character references and provide proof they have installed safes and other measures ensuring weapons are properly locked away when they are not being used.
Mr Ahern said the Criminal Justice Miscellaneous Provisions Bill would introduce a blanket ban on any new handgun licences being issued. “Handguns were effectively banned during the Troubles,” he said. “But following a series of judicial decisions that is no longer the case, and around 1,800 handguns have been licensed. That number will continue to rise unless we take action. At least one judge has expressed concern at this alarming growth.”
He said licences for handguns and other firearms will be due for renewal in the summer months. It was vital the proposed Bill be enacted before then.
Gardaí had proven very successful in seizing illegal firearms. Some 2,000 weapons had been seized under Operation Anvil alone in recent years.
There are no plans in place for another weapons amnesty.
Mr Ahern was speaking at a Garda Reserve passing-out at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Under the new legislation no new handgun licences will be issued, with limited exceptions for Olympic shooting sports. Existing licensees will be subjected to much more rigorous checks than at present.
From August, a Garda superintendent will be allowed to inquire into the medical, including mental, health of a licence applicant. Those seeking licences will have to provide character references and proof of having installed secure storage for their guns.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said he believed the vast majority of Irish people did not want to see a regime where more handgun licences were issued.
“The new legislation also gives me the ability to circulate guidelines to Garda members on the issuing of all types of firearms licences. That means there will be a uniform approach.”
Meanwhile, the Garda is on course to reach the target strength for the Garda Reserve contained in the programme for government, a senior officer said.
Supt Simon O’Connor, who is second-in-command over the reserves, said the number of reservists would reach 10 per cent of the full-time Garda force by 2012.
The target full strength of the reserves was 1,500 and already the part-time force had more than 500 members attested and in training. He said the reserve force was not being impacted by the ban on recruitment to the public sector. “We’re recruiting all year round and we’re continuing to recruit,” he said.
Some 97 reservists of eight nationalities graduated at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, yesterday. This brought to 419 the number of attested members, with a further 101 in training.
As well as the Irish nationals, there were reservists from Argentina, Poland, Ukraine, Nigeria, China, India and Zimbabwe.
