Commissioner defends policy on gun licensing

GARDA COMMISSIONER Martin Callinan has said he does not think the system of senior officers deciding if gun licence applications should be granted is too bureaucratic, adding the matter was so serious that procedures needed to be closely followed.

Mr Callinan made his comments following a High Court case in which it was revealed gardaí had engaged in a blanket refusal to grant licences for some firearms rather than considering each application on its merits.

They had then completed the compulsory paperwork outlining their refusals only after it emerged the matter was to be challenged by gun enthusiasts in the High Court.

Commissioner Callinan said the issuing or refusal of gun licences was of such gravity that all proper procedures needed to be followed.

However, he told a hearing of the Dáil public accounts committee that the decision to grant or refuse a person the right to have a firearm was left solely with a local superintendent or chief superintendent. This responsibility was a burden for some of those officers.

“It’s important to point out that the recent case has highlighted some deficiencies in the administrative process,” he said. “But there’s a very, very serious responsibility placed on officers of An Garda Síochána in determining whether an individual should be issued with a licence.

“And I think I can do no more than mention the Newport case the other evening as a classic example of what can happen with lethal firearms.”

He was referring to a case in Co Tipperary on Monday night when a motorist who was approached by gardaí after driving erratically, shot at gardaí and then took a second weapon in his car and fatally wounded himself.

He said a reasoned decision needed to be taken in every case and that this needed to be recorded. “Basically it’s down to the individual officer; be it a superintendent or a chief superintendent, as to whether or not they will issue. And you have to have a process in place that informs that decision. Part of that is record keeping and that’s something I’ll be looking at very, very carefully.”

Mr Callinan said that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter had already asked him for a Garda report on the issues identified in the High Court hearing, which was only settled on Tuesday when the gardaí agreed to allow those rejected would-be licencees to reapply.

He said in the course of compiling that report his senior officers would be reviewing the application and decision-making process around gun licences.