Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

We all share the Minister's objective but the logic of it is that unless one bans all guns, one cannot be sure some deranged person will not be able to access a weapon that could inflict great harm at any time. Has the Minister any evidence that handguns leaked from legitimately licensed sports or gun clubs have been used in a fatal killing? I agree with him that there is a problem with the use of guns, especially by criminal gangs fighting for supremacy in order to avail of the profits from the drugs trade in particular. Is it not the case, however, that their weapons, in the main, seem to be sourced outside the jurisdiction where they source the drugs, and that the number of handguns leaked from properly supervised, licensed and vetted sports clubs is very small compared to the number of illegal handguns in the jurisdiction?

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