Amnesty targets cache of illegal weapons

A NEW gun amnesty will be irrelevant to hardened criminals, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.

However, the minister said he hoped the amnesty would be used by people, with access to illegal weapons, who had no way of handing them in.

Mr McDowell said the amnesty also paved the way for the introduction of severe prison sentences for firearms’ offences in two month’s time.

“Right across Ireland, there is a fairly significant cache of illegal weapons. For people determined to hold on to them an amnesty is irrelevant,” he said.

“I have never held the view that large numbers of hardened criminals are going to hand over their firearms at garda stations.

“However, I do believe that there are people right across Ireland who have guns and offensive weapons and who, for example, would have found it difficult to come forward or to admit they had weapons in their house; or to admit what relative brought them into their house or that they neglected to licence them.”

Mr McDowell said the amnesty provided such people with an opportunity to hand in the weapons, including everything from hunting knives, to stun guns, to shotguns and rifles.

But he said such people could not expect any leniency if they are caught with the weapons after November 1, when the amnesty expires and new tough penalties are introduced.

These involve mandatory minimum custodial sentences of between five and 10 years for a range of serious firearms offences.

“This is part of a two-fold attempt to reduce the incidence of dreadful crime in which weapons are involved: a limited amnesty followed by the introduction of harsh penalties.”

The minister announced the new measures flanked by the parents of a murdered mother Donna Cleary, aged 22, who was indiscriminately gunned down at a party last March.

Paschal Feeney, president of the Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors (AGSI), said he favoured anything that would save the lives of people and members of the force.