Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have had a very good discussion. We spoke for much of the time about assault rifles and how, if a thing looks like an assault rifle, the laws in this regard will operate. As Deputies, we often meet people who have been the victims of a robbery. I met a postal worker who described what it was like to be looking down the barrel of a firearm or a weapon or whatever one wishes to call it. He was not a firearms expert. He was looking down the barrel of what he thought was an automatic weapon. I know the witnesses are as much against this as we are. However, to understand the perception that exists and why the regulations cover assault rifles or something which looks like one, if someone is holding up a bank with what looks like an assault rifle to the people behind the counter, it is one to them. This could be one of the reasons for this in the current Act. I ask the witnesses to comment on this.