British police charge member of Kneecap with terrorism offence
Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh/Liam O'Hanna goes under the stage name Mo Chara
British police have charged Liam O'Hanna, a member of the Belfast rap group Kneecap with a terror offence over the display of a flag in support of Hezbollah.
The bilingual Irish rappers had been under investigation over a number of incidents at their gigs in recent months.
Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh/Liam O'Hanna goes under the stage name Mo Chara.
He was charged on Wednesday with a terrorism offence for displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 18, police said.
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
MV Matthew: How crime gang's ill-prepared crew fell afoul of Ireland's largest cocaine seizure
When six men were interviewed from Dubai for jobs by a major drug cartel masquerading as a flash shipping company, they grabbed the lucrative contracts. They then flew to South America and boarded a very large and somewhat rusty bulk cargo ship, empty of cargo, in Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela. On their third night at sea, many of the 21 crew were plied with alcohol 'as a distraction'. As they got drunk, a few men were ordered to load a cargo of 'spare parts' off a shadowy ship that pulled up alongside, manned by heavily armed crew. Fear permeated the MV Matthew from that point, said the six men who have pleaded guilty to involvement in a plot to smuggle 2.25 tonnes of cocaine in the Panamanian-registered 190-metre-long, 32-metre-wide bulk cargo ship, after the ship was seized by Irish authorities off the Cork coast. The Panamanian-registered MV Matthew being escorted into Cork Harbour. File picture: PA They were promised bonuses to 'keep their mouths shut' about the cargo, they said. As the giant ship tracked slowly across the Atlantic, the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre, an international organisation that monitors maritime traffic to dismantle drug trafficking, alerted Irish authorities that they were suspicious of the ship. The MV Matthew's actual course and its stated course had diverged, since it left the waters off Venezuela, tracked through automatic identification system (AIS) technology. Meanwhile, gardaí monitored four men in Ireland as they travelled to Glengarriff and then Castletownbere in Co Cork to buy the fishing trawler, The Castlemore, and sail it up the coast. This boat was to be the 'daughter' ship to collect drugs from the MV Matthew's 'mother ship' and was arranging to collect the 2.25 tonne cocaine consignment, worth some €157m, from the larger vessel off the Irish coast. Vitaliy Lapa's warning ignored A retired Ukrainian fishing captain, Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, had been in Ireland since July, staying in hotels in Dublin and Newry that were paid for by his employers, a major transnational organised crime group, waiting for instructions. Vitaliy Lapa. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA Russia's invasion of Ukraine had pushed Lapa, a retired fishing captain, back out to work at sea as the conflict had imposed great financial pressures on his family, his counsel Colman Cody said. Lapa said he was told he would be paid €5,000, which 'considering the largesse from this enterprise, was a very paltry sum' for the risks of involvement, Mr Cody said. His English had been 'non-existent' when he came to Ireland in 2023, the Special Criminal Court heard. He had been hired for his seafaring experience. But when he viewed the fishing trawler, the Castlemore, in Castletownbere, West Cork, with a person of interest to gardaí, on September 21, 2023, he said he had concerns about the boat, believing its engine speed and capacity was insufficient, unable to go above 10 knots. However, his concerns were ignored and the boat was bought by a Dubai-based operative of the organised crime gang. Jamie Harbron had no maritime experience Meanwhile, Jamie Harbron, aged 31, had got the ferry from his home in the UK to Ireland. He bought a ticket on his own debit card just two days before departing on the Castlemore. Jamie Harbron. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA Harbron had suffered addiction issues and was 'the lowest rung' of the drug smuggling operation, his counsel Michael O'Higgins said. Harbron left school at age 14 with no GCSEs. He 'was a man without means', with no home or car, Mr O'Higgins said. He developed addiction issues, consuming cocaine, cannabis, and alcohol, and ran up a significant drug debt. His actions on the Castlemore were to pay off €10,000 of a €20,000 drug debt. He had no maritime experience. Trawler set sail on September 22 The Castlemore left West Cork on Friday, September 22, 2023. A message sent to Lapa and Harbron on encrypted messaging app Signal said: 'Ok lads, no need for luck, really, this couldn't be more straightforward — just relax and this will all be over soon.' A photo released by gardaí of what transpired to be the €157m cocaine haul seized from the MV Matthew. Picture: An Garda Síochána And it was. But not in the way they had hoped. From the time they set sail, Lapa and Harbron met only adversity. Harbron, intensely seasick and with no seafaring experience, was terrified and thought he was going to die when their boat got caught in a storm off the South-East coast. The boat's engine failed and it lost electricity and wifi — vital for their clandestine communications with the cartel and the MV Matthew. Defence barrister Michael O'Higgins said: Notwithstanding the very serious risk to their lives, they were specifically instructed not to contact the Coast Guard. The gang's treatment of the two men showed how 'expendable' they were, the court heard. Castlemore's crucial satellite system A reason the Castlemore fishing trawler had been chosen was because a Starlink satellite internet service was installed. This would allow online communications between people on the boat and off the boat through messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp. The contents of these messaging apps would prove central to the State's case. Messages spoke about the cocaine drop off and 'lowering the food' onto the boat. Positions were shared via messages and multiple attempts were made for the 'mother ship' and 'daughter ship' to meet. 'There will be four jumbo bags, it will be a lot but just go like fuck mate to truck away,' one message from someone named Padre in messages, who was directing the operation from off the boat, said. Another message said the 'parcel' would comprise of 'six big jumbo bags tied together […] total weight 2.2T.' As the weather became increasingly stormy, tensions were clearly rising on the MV Matthew as it tried to convene the drop off. Soheil Jelveh. File picture: Jim Campbell The captain, Soheil Jelveh, complained of how 'these idiots were late again'. He also expressed concern about the worsening weather, saying a drop-off would be impossible in the growing swell. 'Daughter ship' ran aground The Castlemore ran aground off the Wexford coast on September 24, 2023. Terrified, exhausted, and sick, the crew issued a distress call after 11pm. The two men were so exhausted and unwell they couldn't secure a tow rope being thrown to them by the coastguard and had to be winched to safety by a helicopter in rough seas. They were then arrested. When the MV Matthew heard that SOS call over the radio that night, a plan was devised to put the drugs in a lifeboat with Cumali Ozgen, who the court heard was the 'eyes and ears' of the cartel in Dubai, and lower the boat to sea. But this never happened. The 'Irish Examiner' front page report on September 26, 2023 notes that gardaí and the navy had already been tracking the trawler before it ran aground off the Wexford coast. Picture: Irish Examiner Voices from Dubai on the messaging apps also said they could get another boat to leave from Dublin to collect the drugs. The MV Matthew's captain, Iranian Soheil Jelveh, then called for a medical evacuation, being winched off the ship by the Irish Coast Guard and taken to hospital — bringing four phones, more than $52,000 in cash, and two suitcases. He was later arrested in hospital. MV Matthew's attempt to flee Meanwhile, the MV Matthew was trying to escape Irish territorial waters. They wrongly believed they could not be boarded by Irish authorities outside Irish territorial waters and planned to go to Sierra Leone for safety. The MV Matthew berthed at Marino Point, Cork Harbour, in September 2023 after it was seized in the multi-agency operation. File picture: Denis Minihane The crew had also been told to stay out of UK waters as Ireland only had VHF radio but the UK had more technology to communicate and track. The MV Matthew repeatedly tried to evade the naval vessel LÉ William Butler Yeats, even when it announced it was a warship and was in hot pursuit — a maritime law which enables a State to pursue a foreign vessel that has violated a law within its jurisdiction. That pursuit can extend beyond its territorial waters. But the MV Matthew, being directed from Dubai, ignored the LÉ William Butler Yeats' instructions, despite multiple warning shots. It repeatedly attempted to evade it and to burn the drugs aboard. Messaging the Irish naval service — and the gang bosses Harold Estoesta was on the bridge, communicating with the Irish warship via radio while asking for instructions from the shadowy paymaster in Dubai. Harold Estoesta. File picture Dan Linehan He told the navy that the MV Matthew wanted to co-operate, that the crew were crying, panicking, had family to think about. Meanwhile, he was asking the 'captain' in Dubai what he should do. That 'captain' told him to wait and he would call his 'lawyer friends'. 'Please make sure everything is deleted from phones,' a message from Dubai to the MV Matthew crew then said. 'Please don't lose your confidence,' another message from Dubai said. Another message said: We don't want single dollar from this operation. We don't want you to go to jail for nothing. Another message from the 'captain' in Dubai said: 'they've talked too much, show them some real action. 'Be confident, there is law stopping them from boarding the ship.' Incorrect information But the information sent on what constituted Irish territorial waters and their legal rights seemed to be AI-generated and was wrong. The boat headed out towards the high seas after repeatedly saying it would comply with the navy's order to proceed to the Port of Cork. In rough seas, the MV Matthew manoeuvred to try to escape the Irish Defence Forces helicopter as elite army rangers fired a warning shot and abseiled down onto the boat on September 26. Great bravery was shown by the Army Ranger Wing in climbing down that rope from a helicopter in rolling seas to seize the ship, Detective Superintendent Keith Halley told the Special Criminal Court. And the MV Matthew's manoeuvring to evade capture put those elite soldiers in danger, he said. Once on board, the soldiers saw smoke from a life raft on the starboard side, found the drugs alight, and quickly extinguished the fire to preserve the evidence before seizing the ship. Of the 21 crew who left from Curaçao off the Venezuelan coast in August, 2023, on the MV Matthew, six would later plead guilty to involvement in drug trafficking. Crewmen claimed not to know about cargo Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, aged 32, and Vitaliy Vlasoi, aged 33, said in mitigation that they were forced to flee their homes in Odessa by Russia's invasion of their country. Both experienced seamen, they claimed not to know about the ship's illegal cargo until it was brought aboard and they were then at sea with nowhere to escape to. Mykhalio Gavryk. File picture: Dan Linehan Likewise, Harold Estoesta, aged 31, was a qualified seaman and second officer and had been a government scholar in the Philippines. One of the few crew with excellent English — the language of communication on the messaging apps — once he was aboard the ship he said he was 'terrified' and 'alone at sea' so felt he must comply with orders. Vitaliy Vlasoi. File picture: Dan Linehan Iranian Soheil Jelveh, aged 51, the captain, was highly qualified and had no known previous links to organsied crime. He had largely retired to coach football and said he had been lured to Dubai by people offering a better education for his son there, a better life for his family, and help establishing a football foundation. Fellow Iranian Saied Hassani, 40, had worked at sea almost consistently since graduating from maritime college, which he started in 2005, so much so that he missed all of his six-year-old daughter's birthdays, the court heard. Saeid Hassani. File picture: Dan Linehan He has two sisters who need medical care — one is in a wheelchair and one has cancer — and he has worked to provide for his wider family since his father died, defence barrister Mark Lynam SC said in mitigation. However, messages did show him suggesting to the person in Dubai directing the ship remotely that that they should carry guns for the next operation. Cumali Ozgen, aged 49, originally from Turkey but living in the Netherlands for most of his life, was described as the 'eyes and ears' of the cartel on the ship. But his barrister Brendan Grehan said there was no suggestion he had an organising role. Cumali Ozgen. File picture: Dan Linehan He was the only one of the accused with no seafaring experience and his role seemed to be to communicate with Dubai and to mind the drugs. The court heard he had a son who had required brain surgery and he was trying to provide for his future. 'Immense capabilities, unlimited resources, global reach' A transnational organised crime group with 'immense capabilities, unlimited resources and a global reach,' directed the MV Matthew drug smuggling operation, Det Supt Keith Halley told the sentencing hearing for the eight men charged in connection with the seizure at the Special Criminal Court this week. And the crew aboard the MV Matthew were very much directed from voices in Dubai. But the technology they communicated through would ultimately reveal the second-by-second unfolding of the biggest drug seizure in the history of the State. Voice messages, text messages, photos, and videos, mostly captured from phones, showed the entire operation unfold. Guilty pleas All six men arrested onboard the MV Matthew have pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on the ship between September 24 and 26, 2023. Lapa and Harbron have pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between September 21 and 25, 2023. The eight men will be sentenced on July 4, in the Special Criminal Court by Justice Melanie Grealy, Judge Sarah Berkeley, and Judge Gráinne Malone.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Clodagh Finn: Restoring some honour to Honour Bright, 100 years on
I will be thinking of Lizzie O'Neill, also known as Honour Bright, this Monday on the centenary of her murder on June 9, 1925, aged just 25. Her death — caused by a single bullet to the heart — rocked the new Irish state, not least because Leopold Dillon, a former superintendent of the Civic Guard, and Patrick Purcell, a doctor from Wicklow, were tried for her murder. It was a sensational trial which recounted 'a hideous tale of a night of debauchery', as prosecutor William Carrigan described it, to a packed Central Criminal Court in Dublin in February 1926. Yet, it took the jury just three minutes to acquit the high-profile defendants. Three minutes. That is not to say they reached the wrong decision. The revolver owned by one of the accused, Dr Purcell, could not have been the one used to kill Ms O'Neill, the court heard. HISTORY HUB If you are interested in this article then no doubt you will enjoy exploring the various history collections and content in our history hub. Check it out HERE and happy reading And while the men were freed, their reputations were in shreds; Dr Purcell was forced to leave his Wicklow practice and emigrate to the UK, while Dillon was dismissed from the police and is thought to have left for Canada. What has always bothered me, though, is that Lizzie O'Neill's reputation was also left in shreds. In court, she was described as 'an unhappy girl of the unfortunate class' and 'a woman who, through some cursed necessity, was compelled to seek her livelihood on the streets at night'. It didn't help that the only surviving image of her was the police photo showing her dead body in a field in Ticknock on the outskirts of Dublin, surrounded by gawping onlookers Nobody has ever been convicted of her murder in a case that has generated much fevered speculation. But that is not the focus of this week's column which, instead, is dedicated to trying to restore a little bit of respect to a young woman on the centenary of her death. Let's start by recalling this single, overlooked detail. During the trial, Superintendent Reynolds gave evidence that her pockets contained a purse, some other small articles and a rosary beads. A rosary beads. Interpret that as you will, but it is a tiny shred of evidence that helps us to counter the reductive image of a woman so misrepresented during the trial. She not only lost her life but her dignity and good name, a phenomenon that endures to this very day. There was no mention during the court case, either, that Lizzie (as her friends called her) was the mother of a young son. Kevin Barry O'Neill was born on November 9, 1920, in the Coombe Hospital in Dublin. The fact she named him for the IRA volunteer and medical student executed just days before says something about the new mother. Like Barry, she had a link to Carlow. Perhaps she was acknowledging that shared connection or maybe she was voicing her support for an independent Ireland. Artist Holly Christine Callaghan restores some dignity to Lizzie O'Neill, aka Honour Bright, in her portrait of the young woman whose murder caused a sensation a century ago. Census returns tell us that Lizzie, born Elizabeth, O'Neill was living with her parents, Elizabeth and John O'Neill, a printer, lino-operator, in College Street, in Carlow in 1911. She was the second eldest of the couple's seven children, three boys and four girls. All the family, and the boarder Patrick Hanrahan, a sacristan, are listed as Roman Catholic and, we can see that 11-year-old Elizabeth was going to school. She's listed as a 'scholar' who can speak Irish and English. She moved to Dublin when she was about 18 and, according to an account in a book by John Finegan in 1995, she got an apprenticeship at a drapery store in Lower Camden Street. He offers this uplifting, though unattributed, vignette: 'People who knew Lil [she was known as Lil and Lily] O'Neill when she first arrived from the country described her as an attractive, fresh-complexioned, warm-hearted girl, with brown hair and deep brown eyes.' She loved dancing too, a detail mentioned by Finegan and her granddaughter, and was apparently a regular at the city's dance-halls and ballrooms despite the political turbulence of the time. Pregnancy We know she got pregnant a year after her arrival in Dublin, but nothing of the man she may have hoped would support her. When he did not, she lost her job and the accommodation that went with it. It is hard to find documentary proof of what happened next, but it seems Lily found a foster mother for her child and paid for his upkeep weekly. We know from court reports that she was living in Newmarket in the Liberties at the time of her death. On the night of June 8, she and her friend Madge 'Bridie' Hopkins were working on St Stephen's Green when they met the two men later accused of her murder. She had assumed the name Honour Bright a few years before. Some said it was because she was fond of the colloquial phrase, 'honour bright', which meant 'on my honour' or 'honestly' (for example: 'I'll do that, honour bright'). It adds another layer of poignancy to think of this young woman adding her bond of honour to the end of her sentences. Or perhaps her pseudonym was her attempt to separate her work persona from her private one, a mother who one day hoped to earn enough money to care for her son. We will never know but what we can do is attempt to pick her up from that lonely field in Ticknock and remember her as she might have been in life Newspaper reports described her as a woman of about five foot four, with chestnut brown hair. She was wearing a black hat, a grey tweed suit with a mauve silk blouse, black patent leather shoes with T-straps and silk stockings. Her hair was in a bob. That in itself says something because, on the same day her trial opened, the Irish Independent ran an article by suffragist Agnes Maude Royden, observing that many women were bobbing their hair even though men, in general, preferred them to wear it long. It was a sign, she said, that women were thinking for themselves and acting accordingly. We might think of Lizzie O'Neill, then, as a young woman who was trying, against the odds, to be independent so that she might raise her son. To help us imagine — and remember — the woman she was, artist Holly Christine Callaghan completed this beautiful portrait: 'Her story really moved me,' she says. 'It reminds me a lot of Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short, an American woman whose murder in 1947 was highly publicised because of the mutilation of her body), and similar 'discarded women'. I was really struck by how victims are just erased, and rarely honoured properly.' At least Honour's son and her late granddaughter, Patricia Hughes, tried very hard to find out more about her death. In her book, Hughes developed an elaborate though speculative theory that her grandmother's murder was a conspiracy to cover up her connection to the poet WB Yeats. If you take the time to read through the reports of the trial, a question emerges about the taxi-driver who gave Lizzie O'Neill a lift on the night of her murder. One witness said she saw him with a revolver in the summer of 1925, but there is no more than that. On June 9, all we can do is think of Lizzie or Lily O'Neill as a person, snuffed out in the prime of her life. Perhaps we might mark her anniversary by calling for greater recognition of victims in court. Victim Impact Statements were introduced in 1993. Maybe it is time to introduce something like a Victim Profile Statement in murder trials so that victims are no longer lost in the evidence that follows. We might think of it as a small honour in memory of Honour, and the very many others who have been overshadowed in the legal process.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Carlow shooting 'shouldn't have happened, but none of us know the true story', says gun shop owner
Many Irish people pride themselves on the fact that Ireland is practically a 'gun-free' nation. When looking at the atrocities committed so regularly in the US by mass shooters, we comfort ourselves that something of that nature could never happen here. The events at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow town last Sunday night have perhaps shaken that belief somewhat. The self-inflicted death of 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald, who was already on bail and facing charges for the illegal possession of various firearms, while in possession of a shotgun gives rise to many questions. How the young man came to the attention of the gardaí in the first place is well-documented. A man with an admitted 'fascination' with firearms, he and two associates ordered a number of high-powered weapons via the dark web — only to be apprehended by gardaí soon after acquiring them in March of last year. They had come into possession of a handgun, an automatic rifle, and over 40 rounds of ammunition. Prior to his death, Mr Fitzgerald was facing at least 13 charges of possessing firearms, ammunition, and explosive substances. He had been released on bail on strict conditions pending trial. Gardaí believe that he had been suffering from mental health problems prior to the shopping centre incident. The first question is: How did a man with a known fascination for guns, who had no valid gun licence in his possession, come to be able to walk through a shopping centre with a fully-licensed shotgun? The second question is: Was this incident an aberration? Could it happen again? When one looks into the subject, one becomes aware for the first time of an unexpected statistic: Ireland might have a reputation for being gun-free, but that is simply not the case in practice. According to the most recent annual report from An Garda Síochána, valid as at the end of 2023, there were roughly 204,000 licensed firearms in the country at that date, with several thousand illegal versions seized across the year. Each of those weapons would require an individual licence. Put in simple terms, with an adult population of 3.8m people, roughly 5% of that cohort per capita owns a firearm — a massive figure by any standards. 'Huge hobby' That still leaves us far adrift of the US, which has about 120 guns for every 100 population, but it is nevertheless a significant figure for a country where law enforcement is typically not armed (the 5% figure is broadly in alignment with the number of firearms held by the British public). 'It's a huge hobby,' says Pat Cooke, the proprietor of the Hilltop Gun Shop and Ranges in Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow, and one of Ireland's many registered firearms dealers. He explains that the enthusiasm for shooting as a sport takes many different guises. 'It depends on what kind of sport someone is into. There's clay pigeon shooting, which is huge. Game shooting. Hunting. Then there is just target shooting, which is huge again,' Mr Cooke says, noting that the day prior to our conversation he had a customer in his shop who had just returned from Britain, where he had travelled to take part in a target shooting competition. 'Quite a few people travel during the hunting season to shoot game in Africa,' the 74-year-old says. I used to travel to Germany for shoots. Others go to Russia, Lithuania for super competitions. Quite a lot of people travel to Australia for world shoots Asked what kinds of guns people are looking to acquire when they walk through his door, the broad response is: 'Handguns and rifles, it varies.' Asked how he first came to love shooting, Mr Cooke says he has been involved in the sport 'from when I was a youngster', when there were far more younger people attracted to it than there are now. 'When they were 16, they'd start shooting. We'd walk hail, rain, and snow for the sport with a dog and a gun,' he said. 'We didn't sit at computers all day long, because we didn't have any.' So how complicated is it to get a gun in Ireland? Well, there are two stages. The first is to apply for a licence via An Garda Síochána, a process which has no definite timeframe but will, by and large, take 'weeks into months' to complete, according to sources. Gardaí have been piecing together the last hours of 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald since Sunday when he fired a shotgun inside Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow before turning the gun on himself. There is one certainty regarding licensed firearms in Ireland so far as the gardaí are concerned: If you want a gun, you need to have a good reason. The majority of licences relate to farming, other professional agricultural requirements, and hunting. If you want to own a firearm in this country for recreation, then you need to be a member of one of the roughly 970 gun clubs in the country. One key difference between the US and here is that there is one reason that will not fly under any circumstances when it comes to applying for a licence in Ireland: You cannot hold a gun here legally for the reason of your own security or self-defence. Firearm application To apply for a licence, the application is made directly to the local garda superintendent, a person who also has the power to revoke same. The process itself is not a pro forma one. Once an application has gone in, the applicant will be subject to a garda interview. Their living space will be inspected to see where the gun will be kept. All guns have to be kept under secure lock and key by their owners, while ammunition has to be stored separately in an inaccessible area. The applicant will be given guidance on the implementation of Ireland's firearms legislation. Every gun, meanwhile, requires a separate licence, meaning the process has to be repeated for every firearm without exception. Then, once a licence has been obtained, the aspiring gun-owner can go about sourcing the firearm they desire. A lot of those guns will be purchased from the aforementioned firearms dealerships. Some others will be imported. Receiving a gun in the post is not permitted, as every firearm has to be checked by the gardaí to ensure it conforms to standards. In Mr Cooke's case, all firearms are sold in person. I do it all over the counter. I had bad experiences with couriers, so I try not to use them The problem is that the case of Mr Fitzgerald shows that the strict rules that are in place can be circumvented. Mr Fitzgerald didn't have a valid licence himself. Even if he had, it likely would have been revoked given the charges he was facing. However, the shotgun he used was legally held — just not by him. Given that rules can be gotten around, are we somewhat fortunate that incidents such as that which occurred in Carlow don't happen more often? 'It doesn't happen more because the regulations are in place, and there is a lot of process around the system,' says a source. 'Even if someone is involved in say a domestic violence incident, their situation would be reviewed. 'The regulations come down to the wording that only a 'person suitable to hold a firearm' may own one.' Asked about the incident in Carlow, Mr Cooke says 'it is something that shouldn't have happened'. He adds that 'none of us know the true story'. 'If anyone has any marks on their character at all, they won't have a licence. I have gotten calls from gardaí about people asking is there any doubt about them at all. I cannot give anything out, be it firearms or ammunition, you cannot even ask if you don't have a licence,' he says. One aspect of the conversation Mr Cooke objects to is the suggestion that obtaining a gun is the equivalent of acquiring a weapon. 'When someone is looking for a gun, they are looking for a firearm. A hammer is a weapon. We class guns as what they are,' he says. He disputes that people with bad intentions could seek to acquire a gun legally. 'They have to go through all the rigmarole to get a licence, and they have to fit all the criteria,' he says. Not that he has experienced any trouble at his own dealership. 'Absolutely, there has been very little crime. 'When it comes down to it, 99.9% of gunholders in this country are very reliable people,' he says.
