We shoot straight from the heart
This ill-informed letter paints a truly horrifying image of the Irish target shooting community, all the more so because it is completely false in all of its accusations.
Firstly, calling NTSA shooters "so-called sportsmen" is a slur on those who have represented Ireland at two Olympic Games in the past decade, as well as over 100 international competitions, including 12 members of the Irish squad who are representing their country at this very moment in the World Cup event in Athens.
These target shooters are not only athletes, they participate in the most technically demanding sport in the world.
Target shooting may not require a weightlifter's strength or a sprinter's speed, but it requires a degree of control that no other sport even comes close to demanding.
What other sport requires you to control yourself so well that you hit a paper target the size of a two-cent coin at 50m without any form of telescopic sight, a requirement so severe that the shot must take place at the same point in a target shooter's heartbeat and then demand that the same feat be repeated 60 times in a row?
Secondly, .22 calibre rifles are not "fun-guns". They are firearms, and are treated as such not only by the athletes who train with them, but also by the Government who licence and regulate their use.
The highest standards of safety are met by all NTSA shooters. Bullets do not "fly in all directions". They are fired on ranges which are built to international specifications for safety and which are inspected by the gardaí before a licence to use them as target shooting ranges is granted.
Thirdly, in over 50 years of active, competitive target shooting in Ireland, we have had no injuries as a result. None. No one's been shot, no one's been injured. We have a better safety record for the whole country for the past half-century than your typical golf club has for a single year.
Fourthly, we agree that the licensing regulations do need review. And we are trying to work with the minister for justice to effect that review so that it results in an even safer environment than we have today (though how you improve on a perfect, 50-year safety record remains to be seen).
Fifthly, while the .22 calibre round is hazardous, and is never treated as otherwise by target shooters at any time, it is not especially so, compared to other calibres.
Lastly, while it is true that we are now seeing an increase in gun-related crime, that's exactly what it is crime.
These crimes are carried out by people who have no regard for the law, and the type of firearms they use assault rifles, combat sidearms, sawn-off shotguns, and so on shows this quite clearly.
The NTSA fully supports the prosecution of these criminals to the full extent of the law.
We, perhaps more so than the average citizen, are aware of the damage that firearms abuse can cause, and we absolutely condemn it.
But it is important to note that the crimes we see reported have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the sport of target shooting.
Target shooters lay out thousands of euro of their own money and invest years of time in training, thus ensuring that their sport is carried out in the safest manner possible and, as a result, target shooting is the safest sport in Ireland. To tar it with the same brush as is applied to criminal activities is simply wrong.
If Mr Fitzgerald is still unconvinced, I invite him to attend the National Air Rifle Championships in Wilkinstown, Co Meath, on May 29/30, to see how target shooting is run in Ireland. This invitation obviously extends to anyone who is interested in learning more about the sport.
Who knows? Perhaps, like so many thousands of others before him, Mr Fitzgerald may discover that target shooting is nothing like he believes it to be, and even that it's the sport for him.
Mark Dennehy,
PRO,
National Target Shooting Association,
167, Applewood Heights,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
