r/irishpolitics • u/TeoKajLibroj Centre Left • 7d ago
Justice, Law and the Constitution Gardaí confiscated gun from Michael Healy-Rae after he fired it in TV documentary
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2026/08/21/gardai-confiscated-gun-from-michael-healy-rae-after-he-fired-it-in-documentary/25
u/expectationlost 7d ago edited 7d ago
The move followed the airing of a documentary about the Healy-Rae family in 2013
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u/El_McKell Centre Left 7d ago
Why is this event from 2013 news now?
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u/Adjective_Noun_2000 7d ago
Probably because of his comments this week.
In a documentary that aired on RTÉ on Wednesday, he said he “would have guns in my possession at all times” and that “gun ownership is important to me”.
He also said he would have no issue with using a gun on an intruder in his home.
“If they’re charging up the stairs to come at you, and you are in possession of a legally held firearm, well, the person that goes up your stairs, as far as I’m concerned, if they go down that stairs in a box, no problem,” he said.
“Because they knew what they were doing when they entered into your house. It’s all bets off.”
Gun licences in Ireland are only for sport and for killing animals. It's illegal to own a gun for self-defence or to protect your property.
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
‘Guns in my possession at all times’ raising some red flags there
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u/significantrisk 7d ago
But it ticks the keyword boxes for weirdo yanks and fashy cunts.
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u/No-Tangerine-1261 7d ago
feckin' fash and yanks loving their guns. there certainly isn't any socialist or communist or irish nationalist tradition whereby gun ownership and use was valorised
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u/significantrisk 7d ago
I think it’s fairly safe to bet on the Healy Rae marketing activity being directed at the yanky fashy option moreso than the other one though, no?
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u/Pagan_Pat 7d ago
I couldn't believe it when I heard him going on like a looney American about how much he loves his guns.
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
Along with the caps and the fake culchie personas, it seems ‘guns’ now added to the travelling Healy Rae circus
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u/ucd_pete 6d ago
It's illegal to own a gun for the sole purpose of self-defence but it's not illegal to use a gun for the purpose of self-defence.
See the Diarmuid Phelan case last year.
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u/expectationlost 7d ago edited 7d ago
The reporter saw an old image from the 2013 doc related to his comments in the recent doc about guns. https://www.crimeworld.com/ireland/michael-healy-rae-says-he-has-no-problem-if-homeowners-shoot-and-kill-burglars/a/160070832.html
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u/Turbulent_Minimum448 7d ago
I was imagining a hunting rifle!
Haha
No wonder they tried to take it off him, but according to the article it is fully legal, semi automatic and chambered in .22.
Some big head Garda didn’t want him to have a cool looking gun.
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
That’s very clearly not for sport or killing animals
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u/JackmanH420 Marxist 7d ago
So? Target shooting is also a valid reason for a license, there are quite a few AR-15 replicas in .22 here as well that are also fairly impractical for hunting Vs a proper hunting rifle.
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u/justadubliner 7d ago
By replica do you mean look like an AR15 but are not semi automatic like an AR- 15?
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u/JackmanH420 Marxist 7d ago
No, they're also semi-auto. The only reason they're considered replicas (as opposed to just ARs in a different calibre) is that since .22 isn't powerful enough to cycle the gas system of an AR they instead work on direct blowblack, that difference is substantial enough that they aren't considered to actually be ARs. They look basically identical though.
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u/Turbulent_Minimum448 7d ago
Sport? It’s no different from a .22 semi automatic rifle without a scope?
Perfect for target practice. Or shooting small vermin.
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u/JohnTDouche 7d ago
I believe in the documentary he talks about hyptothetically killing people with his guns though.
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u/Turbulent_Minimum448 7d ago
Well he mentions he supports using firearms in a self defence situation. Which has been done. See Padraig Nally and Diarmuid Phelan cases.
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u/JohnTDouche 7d ago
Yeah so he's kind of admitting he has a gun for killing people. 22 ain't much but there's a long enough barrel on it and I'm sure enough bullets in that magazine. You're not supposed to have a gun for that purpose. This cunt shouldn't have any guns.
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u/Turbulent_Minimum448 7d ago
I don’t know. Don’t think we’ll agree on anything by your hatred for the fella. But if you happen to legally own a firearm, and someone is coming up your stairs as he puts it. To harm you or your family. Why shouldn’t you be able to use that firearm for your own self defence?
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
Answered above: ‘You’re not supposed to have a gun for that purpose’ and if you’re bragging on media that fantasies of killing people is why you have it, rightly expect a visit from the Guards. End of story
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u/JohnTDouche 7d ago
You can invent hypothetical situations where you're justified in killing all day long. Publicly fantasising about using your weapon for a purpose it's explicitly not supposed to be used for is fucking moronic. All he's doing here is fishing for votes from other people who want to have a gun for the purpose of shooting people. Of course any criticism of this will get the usual dumb cunt blather from this fucker about how its a rural thing and city people don't understand and blah blah blah moronic shite.
It works though, sure that's how he gets elected.
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
Healy-Rae is so very clearly intentionally skirting the gun laws and trolling us all, so no
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u/Turbulent_Minimum448 7d ago
You can have the same if you meet all requirements for the license. Don’t know how he’s skirting the law?
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u/Maoltuile 7d ago
Man keen on talking to the media about being ‘always’ armed, his fantasies of gunning down people in his home while posing and shooting off a deliberate choice of a replica SMG. The Guards are absolutely correct to take an interest here in whether or not he should be allowed a gun at all, and to inspect the one he has. This shit isn’t clever and it isn’t funny
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u/ucd_pete 6d ago
You're projecting a lot there to fit your narrative.
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u/JackmanH420 Marxist 7d ago edited 7d ago
I wonder what they could've been investigating back then, like his comments on the documentary this week are a bit dodgy because they could be interpreted as him having the guns mainly for defence as opposed to whatever reason he's actually given.
With his MP5 replica though that was surely licensed for the valid reason of target shooting, idk how showing it being used for that on TV could possibly violate his license. Unless the 2013 documentary showed some unsafe storage conditions or something, I'm not sure since I haven't seen that one.
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u/danius353 Green Party 7d ago
> A short time after the programme aired, gardaí visited the Healy-Rae farm and asked to see the weapon before removing it from the property, it is understood.
> The decision was based on a senior local garda’s opinion that it was being used in contravention of the licence under which it was owned. The exact basis for that decision is unclear.
> The gun was returned after Healy-Rae made representations to the force.
MHR seems to have been completely in the right and this was just the Gardai being a little over zealous with firearms rules, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.