Kerry firearms trader avoids jail for having machine gun component in airport luggage

He accepted that he had initially lied about the object when gardaí questioned him at Terminal 2. File picture

A Co Kerry military enthusiast and registered firearms trader has been found guilty and fined €2,000 for unlawfully possessing an essential component from a machine gun in his luggage at Dublin Airport after a trip to America.

Patrick O'Mahony Jr, 54, of Ballyrameen, Castlemaine, pleaded not guilty to having a bolt from a Browning machine gun at Terminal 2 on November 28, 2021.

However, he was convicted following a hearing before Judge John Hughes at Dublin District Court. He could have been fined up to €5,000 and received a 12-month sentence. But the court heard he had no prior convictions, co-operated with gardaí, and believed it was an antique.

Customs officers searched O'Mahony's luggage and found suspected firearms parts, which gardaí had examined, but only one was relevant to the prosecution. It was an essential component for a Browning machine gun, a prohibited firearm.

O'Mahony, who specialises in antique guns, especially World War One pistols and rifles, was interviewed that day and told gardaí he thought it was something else.

'Emotional significance'

In court, he said he purchased it because the seller in Florida told him it came from a Browning 1919 mounted machine gun, a weapon operated by his grandfather in a US battalion in the First World War. He bought it because of that family connection, and the court heard it had "emotional significance" for him.

The defence argued that it came under an exemption in the Firearms Act. Defence counsel Oisin Clarke said comparable UK law defined a pre-1939 gun as an antique, but there was no description in the Irish firearms legislation.

O'Mahony believed a gun was an antique if it came from a defining period in history or was over 100 years old. He had a book that showed the part that came from a Browning made from 1910 to 1919. The court heard the military enthusiast intended to display it at his business in rare components and historical firearms.

He accepted that he had initially lied about the object when gardaí questioned him at Terminal 2. But later in that interview, he said, "It would be, yes", when asked if it was restricted. But giving evidence, he explained he panicked because he had never been in trouble before. He also said the bolt itself was also missing several parts.

Age of component

State solicitor Tom Conlon argued that the accused could not decide it was an antique; otherwise, various older weapons could be brought into the country on that basis. He also submitted it may apply to a gun from the 1800s but not the 20th century.

Ballistics expert Detective Garda Janette O'Neill examined the gun part and testified that it was manufactured after 1954, which she established from calibre numbers in the component.

John Gillane, from the Department of Justice's firearms licensing section, also gave evidence for the prosecution and told Judge Hughes the object was prohibited and required an import licence.

The court heard the accused had been interested in old military guns since he was a youth, had a firearms licence since he was 17 and later got a licence to trade. He organised shooting competitions on his range and said he intended to put the Browning bolt into a glass display in his shop as memorabilia.

O'Mahony, who also works as a lorry driver, and the defence pleaded that the conviction could affect his livelihood from his gun business. Gardaí searched his premises and had no issues with the antique weapons he had on show.

Mr O'Mahony co-operated from the outset, and gardaí found everything was in order at his business and heard he had no other parts for a Browning machine gun.

A co-defendant, another registered firearms dealer, who faced similar charges was sent to the Circuit Court and received a six-month suspended sentence last year after pleading guilty.