Mr. Fergus Healy:

In the main, they are normal members of society. Between 2004 and 2009, with the High Court challenge against the ministerial prohibition on short arms, a practice developed whereby firearms were licensed by superintendents under the 1925 legislation. People looking to get involved in recreational activities such as target shooting and various other types of shooting made applications to superintendents. At that particular time, a superintendent could license any type of firearm, from the smallest .22 calibre type firearm right up to a cannon.

The intention of the new legislation was to bring clarity on the types of firearms that could be licensed and who had the authority to issue those licences. In effect, the 1,600 handguns that have been licensed and are currently licensed has brought us back to the situation in which we were in 2009. With the proliferation of guns between 2004 and 2009, the Act required everyone who had those guns to reapply under the new legislation. They had to reapply to chief superintendents. Some people were granted those licences and some people were refused. However, since then, people who have been refused have made application to superintendents for non-restricted type handguns, which are similar handguns.

I have some photographs of the types of guns I am talking about if the committee wishes to have a look at them. I can hand them out. A picture paints a story of a thousand words.

Members of the public wishing to have a handgun are circumventing the restricted category because, under the new legislation, a person applying for a gun has to have had the licence before 2009 before he or she can apply for a licence. If a person did not have a licence, he or she can apply for a non-restricted handgun. The handguns that are on issue now, the lower calibre handguns, are a clone of the restricted handguns. I can talk the committee through the handguns themselves in the booklet if members wish.