Many guns used by criminals being stolen from licensed owners, garda boss says

Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, Justin Kelly, 

Many of the guns used by criminals in Ireland were stolen from licensed gunowners, the garda commissioner has said.

In Cork County alone, there were 23,500 firearm licence applications over a three-year cycle.

Strict licensing laws are needed to keep the country safe, as guns have ended up in the hands of people with mental health problems in the past, a meeting of the Policing and Community Safety Authority held in Cork heard.

Although gardaí are monitoring emerging technologies like 3D Printing, which some criminals use to print viable firearms, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said that he “wouldn't categorise it as a huge problem".

“There are small amounts of them. And 3D printed firearms, particularly ones that we've seized here in Ireland, are quite limited. They’re unreliable, and they only have the ability to fire one round.” 

Gardaí have seized 3D printed guns in Ireland and made arrests connected with these weapons.

And gardaí have had “lots of successes in relation to firearms seizures” more broadly with seizures of firearms up, Mr Kelly said.

One operation led to “a really important conviction of someone who was importing AR-15s, which is a very high power rifle assault weapon”, Mr Kelly said.

“With intelligence-led operations we were able to get ahead of that,” he said.

The guns used by criminals come from multiple sources, the garda commissioner added.

Some come from Eastern Europe, many being the remnants of the Balkans conflict.

“But often firearms that are used are legally held firearms here in Ireland and they're stolen. So for example, shotguns and rifles, that's often the case," the garda commissioner said.

“Firearms are part and parcel of criminal behaviour and part and parcel of organised criminal groups. 

"They want them to intimidate others, to intimidate members of the public.

“And it has always been like that with firearms."

But Ireland suffered zero homicides by firearm last year and it remains a “very safe country,” Mr Kelly said.

“It is so important that people just remember there wasn't one person killed last year by a gun," he added.