Guns in the field can become guns in the kitchen

THE tragic event in Wicklow involving the deaths of three people in a domestic situation calls into question the need for having firearms in the family home.

Is the presence of firearms a tipping point for a person who gets involved in a domestic dispute and, instead of storming out, heads for the gun cabinet to end the dispute once and for all?

No need exists for having a firearm.

The laws of the State protect you so you don’t need to have personal firepower at your disposal.

There is no need to use firearms for food gathering as supermarkets take care of that.

There is no reason to kill animals for recreation as there are many non-lethal ways of letting off steam in the countryside.

So why do people own and use firearms? Can the reason be that is gives them a sense of self-importance in a world where they just exist? That having a firearm sets them apart from the crowd?

Those who channel their killing thoughts via the barrel of a gun on an animal are just a step away from moving the target to human beings.

Kitchen table murders are becoming common.

Is this an indication that, for some firearm owners, the thrill of shooting animals and birds has become stale, that more excitement is needed?

Animal abusers are potential time bombs, primed to go off at the first hint of an inter-human situation that they cannot handle.

As we wait for the next domestic shooting horror, we should consider the fact that those who abuse animals in the fields of Ireland are only a cock of a firearm away from doing it to a human in the kitchens of Ireland.

John Tierney

Campaigns Director

Association of Hunt Saboteurs

PO Box 4734

Dublin 1