Mr. Philip Slattery:

I have supplied a handout and I hope everybody has a copy of it. I have dealt with several cases against the State in which, prior to the change of law in 2008, people had certain types of pistol or rifle. When the new system began, these were classed as assault rifles under Irish law, and the owners appealed that decision. Under Irish law, an assault rifle is a rifle capable of functioning as a semi-automatic, which is legal here, and as fully automatic, which is illegal here, or a rifle that resembles that rifle. Therefore, once it looks like it, it is it.

I believe that at the previous meeting Deputy Alan Farrell mentioned that there are cars made in Korea that look like Ferraris but are not Ferraris. The case is the same here. These guns might look like an assault rifle, but actually they are so far from one that there is no comparison. The first picture on the handout I provided shows a Ruger 10/22 rifle. These rifles are probably the most commonly licensed semi-automatic .22s in the country and in their standard form are licensed as unrestricted. If an individual buys a gun with a wooden stock and then decides to change the stock, perhaps because the stock has broken or because wooden stocks absorb moisture, need more care and are heavier than synthetic stocks, and if the change makes the rifle look more like an assault rifle, he has converted his gun into what looks like an assault rifle and now requires a new licence because of the change. That is the scenario if the rifle looks like an assault rifle.