Just a few points.
1. Those who felt we had liberal gun control regulations before the passage of this Act obviously never paid any attantion to the Firearms Acts 1924, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1990 and 2006. This isn't in fact a very significant change to Irish gun control legislation.
2. Because it wasn't a major change, it isn't a significant story here - indeed it's generated more reaction on this thread than in the country as a whole. The only people who cared are those target shooting guys, who, I understand, have been mollified.
3. Technical quibble - the newspiece is incorrect. Dermot Ahern has no more authority to sign a bill into law than I have, only the President can sign bills into law. Ahern is entiteld to make certain regulations under the Act, which I understand he has not done yet.
4. As Gully says, just about nobody in the general populace has a gun anyway. I have no doubt that the people would hugely support gun control measures such as these anyway. Indeed, a more contentious debate would be whether ordinary police should be allowed to carry guns - something that would no doubt be seen as ridiculous in the US.
5.
Self-defense, I assume, is the implied right associated with hand-guns.
ftr, I'm not aware of any instances here where anyone has defended their actions by claiming they shot their handgun at someone else in self-defence.
6. BRTD and Mechman can now resume their mutual masturbation...
