Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ENDA KENNY HAS confirmed he intends to step down as Fine Gael party leader and Taoiseach.
When this will happen remains unclear.
However, that hasn’t stopped his likely successors subtly (or not so subtly) campaigning for the top job.
Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar were the early frontrunners with both deputies acknowledging their ambition to lead the party – and the country.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald was slower out of the blocks but has since said she is giving the idea of entering the race ‘serious consideration’. But the number of crises she is currently battling in her department have held her back.
In a new Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Poll for TheJournal.ie, the Dublin TD is lagging well behind her Fine Gael colleagues.
We asked more than 1,000 adults who they would prefer to be the next Taoiseach: Micheál Martin or Frances Fitzgerald. The Fianna Fáil leader came out on top by a large margin of 64% to 36%.
However, it was the only victory for Martin in the survey.
The Corkman’s popularity does not compete with that of Varadkar and Coveney.
When asked the same question, respondents chose Coveney over Martin, 54% to 46%; while Varadkar had an even healthier lead of 57% to 43%.
That might make happy reading for some Fine Gael members but there are a lot more factors to consider as whoever the new leader is prepares for a general election.
According to reports this week, the parliamentary party said no reforms will be undertaken until the leadership issue is sorted.
Once Kenny resigns, the leadership contest will take up to 20 days. Candidates will be nominated in writing by members representing at least 10% of the parliamentary party.
An electoral college system – made up of parliamentary party members (TDs, senators, and MEPs), members of the party (people who are registered with the party) and public representatives, such as councillors – is used by Fine Gael to determine the eventual winner after a vote.
Each group has a different voting weight:
When all this will happen is, for now, Enda’s Choice.
The polls were all taken ahead of this week’s sign-off of the report on water charges by a special Oireachtas committee.
With reporting by Christina Finn.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
How about people who want to renew or apply for a new gun licence having to get their GP to sign off on their application?
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: but…but…that would stop people with mental health issues owning guns. Thats just total sense, you can’t do that!
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: we don’t even do that is this country.
Will this guy not be called a terrorist either like Vegas guy? Surely murdering and killing anyone for a sick ideology or not, is terrorism on innocent people.
@Jay Lane: They’ve tried that in the UK without success. A GP is unlikely to know someone is about to go postal. Having mental health problems doesn’t mean you are deranged. It’s a very broad definition and majority of people with mental health problems are unlikely to murder people. It’s insulting to those who have mental problems to suggest otherwise.
Good idea to register them somewhere, but the gun lobby won’t have it. Still, how much would a GP know about the mental health of someone who maybe only saw them for a flu jab or chickenpox before then? Sure all the GP could say would be that they seemed in normal physical health. And wouldn’t any professional report someone cracked who openly posed a threat to the public anyway?
Besides, by all accounts there would be a perpetual queue around every surgery as they all stocked up on their collections. The sick would be lucky to get in the door with the healthy all lining up for gun certificates.
@Jay Lane:
No, murdering people for any old reason is not terrorism no matter how much you may like to call it so. The key differentiation with terrorism is that it is ‘in pursuit of political aims’, see definition below. So unless it is for political aim then it is not terrorism.
terrorist
ˈtɛrərɪst/Submit
noun
1.
a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: We don’t know the motive yet. The world goes into meltdown when there’s an assumption that it’s Islamic terrorism. Let’s not be hypocritical
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: abbeylara.
@Simon O’Connor: When people don’t have the facts, they make assumptions. But when the facts are present, they ignore the facts and other arguments. its amazing really. For example the left wants tougher measure on owning a gun, or ban then altogether, yet totally ignore the issues with Islam and violence and accept Syrian refugees at the drop of a hat.
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: some states don’t require a gun license and most that do (as far as I’m aware) are shall issue states meaning the license shall be issued once the paperwork is completed. May issue states are a little bit more strict but I don’t even think the shall issue licenses need to be renewed
@Nick Allen: Far right extremists who mowed down political opponents in America in August somehow escaped terrorism label as did that Welsh guy who mowed down Muslims in London. Both those white far white extremists have sick political aims.
@Simon O’Connor: why do we need to know the motive? It’s quite clear that this one person should not have been allowed to have a gun. Just like with terrorism, it’s quite clear that the people carrying out the acts should not have been allowed into the country. But in both cases it requires removing that right from more than just the dangerous people because an arbitrary line has to be drawn somewhere. Both situations are remarkably similar in the way their champions and detractors treat them
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH:
That didn’t help in Abbeylara
@Jay Lane: Good point, but was that man not suffering from some form of mental illness, and what is the definition of terror ?
@sam kane: an act motivated by religion, ideology or politics
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: It’s their constitutional right to own firearms, unfortunately the only action/legislation that can change the system requires a constitutional amendment which probably wouldn’t even pass if they held it directly after a massacre as the right to own fire arms is seen as inherent to being American
@Dave Sherman: the gp does have to sign a gun licence application in this country. There is also a part that asks if you have ever suffered from any mental health problems.
@Simon Carroll: or thry could read the full 2nd amendment including the “well regulated” part
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: Sorry, but the GP would be in fear of their lives for not signing and it has to be by a test on the day and by outside federal doctors who don’t reside in the area.
@Simon Carroll:
“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited…”
“…it is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”— 2008 Supreme Court Heller Decision
@Dave Sherman: firearms applications here require the applicant to sign a medical waiver which allows Gardai to enquire about the applicants mental and physical suitability to own/use a firearm.
@Simon Carroll: then just ban bullets, that shouldn’t interfere with the constitutional right to own guns
Other members of the family can take the guns off a licensed family member as has already happened in the infamous school massacre in Connecticut.
@sam kane: Not sure why you mentioned Syrian refugees. None of the various terrorist attackers on US soil were even Syrian, let alone refugees from Syria.
@Nick Allen: So to terrorise people isn’t terrorism? Right so Ted.
@Tommy Berry: there’s a specific legal definition for bringing charges and it differs from state to state.
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: you can probably become a GP online for $10 in the US
@Dave Sherman: actually, we do.
@Adrian Connolly: no they don’t. You have to put the name of your GP on the form with two other personal references.
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: some medics are as as if not crazier than this gunman
Remember the doctor who went to Africa to kill a lion and display it in his waiting room
@Dave O Keeffe: True, but they’ll just argue that even soft touch regulation is still regulation, judging by how extreme a lot of Americans are with regards to the 2nd amendment it will take a long time to shift their society’s views on it. In most other countries at a minimum official talks about changing legislation would start after the first or second incident like this, I’ve lost count of how many times this happens in the U.S. and still nothing has changed, I’m not sure most Americans want it changed either because their mentality is “if the bad guy has a gun, then I need more and bigger guns to defend myself/family/property”
@Simon Carroll: true but even the majority of NRA members are in favour of background checks. It’s crazy that that isn’t already a federal requirement.
Even if they truly terrorised these people and more!
Nearly one a week now in America.
Great country eh?
Land of the free?
Really proud to be an American?
@gerry fallon: One? There’s way more than one a week.
@gerry fallon: and home of the brave.
You never hear of these crazed mass murderers carrying out an attack at a police station. But always at a school, college, church etc.
@gerry fallon: one a week?
Try almost one mass shooting per day,
Just because we don’t hear them on the news over here doesn’t mean they don’t happen
@gerry fallon: https://www.massshootingtracker.org/data
@Brian Farrell:
yes you do. prime example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxaCa-hr8o
@Lisa Saputo: I’m talking about mass shootings lisa
@gerry fallon: 309 days. 307 mass shootings.
@gerry fallon: Yes Gerry – far more than one mass shooting per week in the US.
Boston Globe reports 307 so far this year.
307 mass shootings. In 309 days.
@Pablo Rojas Coppari: Jesus that was scary to just read it.
@gerry fallon: http://www.shootingtracker.com
@gerry fallon: Yes, although I don’t see how that relates to this horrific act? Are you attempting to imply that your homeland is so much safer? I think you should read your own local news before jumping to these conclusions.
@gerry fallon: there have been plenty of shootings and stabbings in Ireland as of late. A housing crisis that has seen the number of homeless skyrocket, and the list could go on.
Proud to be Irish?
Nothing to do with dangerous people having unlimited access to serious weapons…….
@Kerry Blake: No motive yet, could have been anything
@Simon O’Connor: it’s a freaking mass shooting, with 27 people dead, it’s safe to assume that the shooter didn’t have any trouble acquiring firearms and ammunition
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: A despicable act, there’s no denying that. But let’s not jump to assumptions on the perpetrator, we know nothing about them or their motive yet as the investigation is ongoing. If someone were to try to link this to Islam there’d be uproar – and rightly so. So let’s see what the outcome is.
@Simon O’Connor: the fact is if the shooter was black or brown-skinned that would have already been reported.
@Simon O’Connor: no motive was suggested. Kerry said a dangerous person had a gun. That is indisputable. What exactly was your objection?
@Dave O Keeffe: You know well that the comment was aimed at gun lobbyists. I think it’s ridiculous that any man or woman should have access to weapons that can inflict this much damage. The NRA needs to respond to this, and perhaps Trump should bring in tougher controls – there’s no contesting that.
My point is that if someone suggested this was a case of Islamic terrorism there’d be a meltdown, as we’ve seen time and time before on this page.
@Simon O’Connor: We do know he or she had the right to bear arms living in america……
@Kerry Blake: What difference did that make in Paris or London? Or how about the shootings every other weekend in Dublin? Criminals will always get access to guns.
I’ve already stated that it’s despicable, and I’m all for gun control.
@Simon O’Connor: you were the first to rant on the gun lobby. A person that shouldn’t have had a gun had a gun was all that was said previously. It’s an indisputable fact.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus:
A Christianophobe perhaps Larry? RIP
@Simon O’Connor:
What? The difference is that it was so unbelievably rare because guns are not readily available. if you’re for some sort of gun control but use the idiotic excuse that “bad guys” will always have guns then you are lying
@Remy: are you putting words in people’s mouth or just making assumptions again? Or both?
@Remy:
ok, declan. what is a Christianophobe?
@Dave O Keeffe: I’m the only one to put a name on it. If you genuinely feel that none of the top comments are directed at the gun lobby then you are deluded Dave
@Simon O’Connor: I think the difference here is it is home grown terror enabled by this myth called the right to bear arms……
@Kerry Blake: Likely so. But let’s not jump to conclusions on the race / religion or motive until we hear confirmed reports from the authorities. That’s all I’m saying
@Simon O’Connor: what exactly is your point? You yourself called out the gun lobby over this incident. To be honest I wouldn’t be aiming my anger at the gun lobby, that’s their job. It’s a politicians job to legislate. In your reply you urged Kerry not to be annoyed about a dangerous person having a gun until we find out why they killed over 20 people. That’s why I’m questioning you. It’s just ridiculous.
@Simon O’Connor: A motive isn’t going to justify these deaths.
@Dave O Keeffe: My point is that how come it’s justifiable to jump on the gun laws in the US and the Republican Party when there’s an incident like this with very little detail released to the public. if this was a case of terrorism committed by a minority group with extremist beliefs, it would be outrageous to jump to conclusions.
All I’ve said is let’s see what comes out before we jump to conclusions, as everybody else does when there’s a mass shooting
@Simon O’Connor: nobody jumped to any conclusion other than the blatantly obvious fact that a person that shouldn’t have a gun had a gun and now over 20 people are dead. Nobody would criticise someone that said bombs are bad after a bombing. Nobody is putting a narrative on this. Nobody has even hinted at a motive or race. That’s the difference.
@Dave O Keeffe: I suggest you read the comments again.
@Simon O’Connor: your real motive is defending the Republican party yet you’re the only one that mentioned them. I mentioned politicians but I know that there are politicians on both sides that don’t want to change the gun laws. Reading your comments again won’t make it any clearer why you think someone saying guns are bad in the wrong hands should have waited until the motive was known.
It’s sad how this isn’t even surprising any more. These families have just entered the hell of never seeing their loved ones again and absolutely nothing will be done about it. RIP.
@Deborah Behan: that’s not a conversation for today. We need firearms to protect ourselves from incidents like this… oh wait..
Rigorous mental health checks need to be done before you can buy a gun. On the other hand, they will soon wipe themselves out if they keep it up
@Ísla Carabine: Sadly they tend to wipe out innocents……..
@Kerry Blake: that is very true unfortunately, what a crappy place to live right now
@Ísla Carabine: There seems to be no way of telling that someone will turn on people like this, that’s the problem. People keep repeating in interviews that their neighbour/co-worker/spouse seemed fine that morning to them. There is no test to show homicidal intentions. It all seems to happen out of the blue.
@Ísla Carabine:
It was always this way, the Internet, social media, 24hr media bias etc just made the world a bit smaller over the last couple of decades
@Fiona Fitzgerald: my thinking would be that anyone who wants to own a gun in the first place might be a warning sign! Obviously that does not go for everyone but yeah. Imagine your friend or a family member doing this…. it’s nuts
@Remy: not really, this kind of random shooting in a public space has been happening for less than 70 years https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/03/the-unusual-motive-that-provoked-americas-first-mass-shooting/?utm_term=.03749da5a4db
@Ísla Carabine: Dead right. Could well be that the more guns they own, the madder they are? Americans just talk of using them to hunt wild animals, though. I mean no one, unfortunately, is crazy enough to say that they need loads of guns for the mass shooting they’re planning. Also, my guess is that many of the guns are being hoarded by survivalist groups. You know, in case civilisation collapses and zombies want to steal all their food and tinfoil hats. That would prove your point all right.
Ban the Churches, that will stop this
@Paul Byrne: No No No….Arm all churchgoers !!
@Paul Mc Nulty: Gun ownership has been a Right of its Citizens in America since the Indians became Civilized, and they will always be a Right for Americans as long as there is Civilization
@Paul Byrne: The Native American people have been civilised far longer than you racist gobsh!te know
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Be careful now making accusations, and for the record America is the greatest country on earth because of Christopher Columbas, a European, great people
@Paul Byrne: go back under your bridge, troll
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: No need to Scalp me, take it easy, i thought we are civilized
@Fake Avast: speaking the truth is the new hate speech
If only everyone in the church would have had a gun…
The second amendment trolls will be along shortly with lines like this
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus:
Are you forgetting the recent attempted mass shooting at a church that was stopped by an armed member of the congregation?
@Thought for Food: You wouldn’t need armed people to stop mass shootings if there were no legal assault rifles to carry them out with in the first place.
Saying “oh but sometimes guns stop mass shootings” is totally missing the point. A lot of the time, they don’t, and people die – because civilians have access to military firepower.
@Thought for Food: remind us, was the perpetrator shot by the other person with a gun?
@Dave O Keeffe: you mean the trained police officer with the gun. Also this was Texas. I’d be surprised if everyone in the church wasn’t armed.
@Thought for Food:
was the gentleman armed while he stopped the attacker?
usual half truths from you, slink away to your corner
@Peter King: what are you talking about? Read the comment I was replying to and then read my comment.
now is not the time….
@Shane Hickey: Not the time for what? To point out that yet another gun nut committed mass murder because he had easy access to semi automatic weapons?
Trump wants to ban muslims from the US. Maybe he can ban men from owning guns and that will stop the daily mass murder (4 or more) that occurs in NRAmerica?
@DaisyChainsaw: it’s a quote from trump.
@DaisyChainsaw: just leave them to it. Who cares really
@DaisyChainsaw: the Ruger AR is fully automatic.
@Ronan Gallagher:
Anyone with even a vague interest in the preservation of human life and societal sanity.
Great contribution, though. Such a lad.
Rest in peace all of the people killed
@Noel James Doherty: Sadly they are at peace however their families may never have peace again.
Not again. Crazy country.
@Jamie McCormack: We are going to “America Yeah !” to see the in-laws in the mid-west next summer. I have serious reservations. And I’m in danger of passing a smart comment to the U.S. immigration staff at the airport.
I’m dreading the whole thing to be honest. Much better places to spend my money to go to. My choice for 2019 is Iran.
@Maurice Geary: Go to States, you’ll have a ball. Don’t say anything silly and keep it country.
@Maurice Geary: __ I’m sure you can buy a Kevlar onesie on Ebay before the trip.
If this was a Terrorist attack Trump would be screaming execute them More than likely the shooters were carrying (legal weapons) Wake up America for gods sake
@pat seery: How is it NOT a terrorist attack? Because the shooter hasn’t been declared brown?
@DaisyChainsaw: thats what pat is saying…?
@DaisyChainsaw: look up terrorism
@DaisyChainsaw: there is a legal definition of terrorism. It’s based on motive and exists for the purpose of pressing charges. It differs from state to state but it has to be precise so that a person bursting a balloon in an airport can’t be charged with terrorism.
@gerry fallon: since 9/11 over 450,000 Americans have been killed by guns in America , since 9/11 only 111 people have been killed by foreign terrorists
@Danny Murtagh: can ye get the stats on road traffic deaths, knife crime deaths, basically just get the stats for all deaths caused by any object
@Danny Murtagh: why start from the day after the largest terrorist attack in the US?….only 111 but if you go back one single day and the number rises to over 3000
@Paul Byrne: Have you got something against the facts ? You don’t like them ?
@Cathal S Byrne: So you go from 0.1% to 1%.
Maybe try tackling the 99% first?
@Cathal S Byrne: and how much less than 450,000 would that be?
If GOD is real would he not stop the bullets??
@Terry Cunningham: thats the catch, when God created Adam and Eve(not Adam and Steve) he gave us free will, is’nt that a blessing
If “god” is all seeing and all knowing AND created us, that means before we were created god knew exactly all of our actions.
Including those that would condemn us to perdition.
How is it “free will” if our “creator” knew prior to creating us exactly what we’d do and where we’d end up.
The whole “free will” thing doesn’t add up.
@Terry Cunningham: Maybe god wanted them dead for not worshipping him hard enough. He does have form in that respect.
@Tricia Golden: Even if we have free will we don’t have the kind of free will that a God would want. For example, loving the sinner and hating the sin is bollocks. “I love you sinner but…” is not real love but sanctimonous whitewash. Jesus plainly hated the Jewish leaders if you read Matthew 23 and that is supposed to be an example of hating the sin not the sinner!
@Terry Cunningham: if He stopped the bullets you’d just find another reason not to believe in Him.
RIP and condolences to the families of those poor inocent people killed.
@Graham Crosby: Virtue signalling…..
@William Grogan: Oh FFS, William.
If only people in Texas carried guns they could have stopped him.
@Peter King: to be fair, in this instance it was good people with guns that stopped him in the end
They’ll have to start serious regulation of guns. When the regulations on Kinder Surprise Eggs were tightened and policed, deaths went from 3 in a decade to zero.
@Andrew Brennan: A voice of reason? Well, they’d have to count the guns per person first. The gun lobby won’t allow that. They won’t have it. They will prevent such laws from being passed in America. And they’ll block any such law enforcement. Because that’s what they do. That’s what they’ve always done in America. That’s what they’ll go on doing.
Groundhog day for the U.S. No where is safe. schools, churches, cinemas, concerts & the usual “the perpetrator had mental health issues” , protect our constitutional right black bla bla bla & repeat.
Fed up with saying year after year allowing anyone to buy a gun in America is just asking for trouble.
@David Mackeown: If they even kept it to one handgun each, there would be fewer able to slaughter each other. Even that would help.
The new security measures introduced by the USA in all airports should be used to keep USA citizens out of our countries until they can control themselves. Their pure stupidity is like a big red warning light
@David Saunders: I agree.. they seem to be more of a threat to themselves than so called islamic terrorists… #keepUSpsychosOutOfEurope
@Kilo Cee: “so called Islamic terrorists”?
What…?
Arm everyone that will sort everything out
Once people have easy access guns, which are designed to kill human beings with maximum efficiency and lethality, some peole will end up using guns for the purpose for which they are designed. It’s perfectly understandable and natural, however tragic and unnecessary.
The cost of human lives extinguished in brutal, awful, shocking and unjust circumstances are the natural, reasonable, probable and predictable consequence of the right of ownership of human killing guns.
@Tony deFreyne : Very true but your comment doesn’t specifically mention the US. There are other countries with lax gun control but they don’t have the carnage the US has. Therefore it has to be the society that is sick and needs to be dealt with. Even if someone managed to ban guns in the US they would still be killing each other somehow. Personally I believe that Hollywood and the general worship of gun violence in the TV diet is the big factor. The mindset has to be disarmed somehow.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: There’s self-defence as well. I can understand people who have had genuine threats, from obsessive stalkers and the like, carrying a gun. But that’s one gun. I can’t understand the mentality of owning loads of arms each, unless it’s part of the commercial pressure to scaremonger and sell more guns.
We can await the next mass shooting, the timing and number of victims being unknown, but it is inevitable.
That wall should be built around the whole of the USA. total fruitcakes
Trump should quickly build the wall, to keep all the American psychos from getting out into the world. RIP to the dead. Will never live in that country.
And still they don’t want gun control,mad,mad,mad
@John Mcloughlin: it is a cognitive deficiency when the relationship of guns to gun deaths can’t be connected.
What with all the lead in the air.
@John Mcloughlin: to be fair, polls have shown support for gun control. Politicians get hundreds of thousands from the nra to ignore their own constituents.
Since 9/11 280,000 people have been killed by guns in the USA
This guy put ‘Texas church shooting’ into his search engine
*I didn’t notice that he wanted to be sucked off,though…
And there are people and media heads who believe that America is the truth, is to be envied that what its message to the World is that has to be taken at face value and believed. RTE has a Washington based reporter and they hash and rehash the American line, no questioning no deviation. The Irish media is no different this incident shows what a screwed up society the US really is. If a society is that dysfunctional how can anything it does on the World stage be believed? There is no hope for America.
At least 27 reported killed
BBC is saying 27 dead.
Religion of peace. . .oops sorry. It’s the journal. I thought every comment had to start with that.
The Orange Clown politicised the NY terrorist attack.
He’ll demand that this attack is not politicised.
The shameless hypocrisy of the Trumpian Republican Party.
I keep saying we need to laugh at them when this happens. It’s the citizens of the good old USA’s fault. It isn’t the fault of the nutter with the gun, it’s the voters fault. IT’S THE F#$#$#G VOTERS FAULT!
@William Grogan: cop on
I understand people saying ban the guns but really that’s not going to work, gun controls in Ireland are so strict and yet we had 38 gun deaths here last year the majority with illegally held fire arms.
Thoughts and sympathy to all involved.
@Bobby tolster: Yes. We had 38 deaths last year total due to illegal firearms. This was 27 deaths in a single shooting.
Most of these mass shootings in the US are done with legally owned guns. And that’s not even counting the single one off shootings or accidental shootings that take place every day inthe US, still only counting the ones done with legal firearms.
THAT is the problem.
@Amy Wallis: totally agree Amy 80% of mass shootings carried out by legally held fire arms but over all legally held weapons only account for 10% – 15% of gun deaths in the states, there’s other factors that they don’t look at specially meds almost every mass shooter in the last 15 years has been on SSRI’S or effexsore or adderall, since ssri’s started being used in Ireland we’ve had a lot of cases were the person being prescribed the drug has snapped wiped out there family and then takin there own life.
Grab’em by the pu××y, shoot ‘em all up, take away their rights and f××k the whole world. Drain the swamp, listen to the pomp, this is America, America.
Very sad indeed. From the BBC news…the Wilson county commissioner “You never expect something like this. My heart is broken,” Mr Gamez Jr said. Sadly I now do expect these things to happen, over and over again. A very messed up country. So many Americans cant see what an issue guns are…that in itself is messed up!
That poor child RIP
RIP
The gun nuts will come out and say it’s a hoax like they do with Sandy Hook etc..
There is no god – not a screed of evidence. But there are many many crazy human beings. Fix your gun laws.
@Con Cunningham: Ireland has very strict gun laws, but lots of people getting shot dead, laws do not stop people from killing or dying
@Paul Byrne: No law works 100%, but one of the reasons our death toll is so low is that we have such strict laws. Your inability to identify this basic fact leads me to think you are deficient, insane, trolling or all three. Either way you need help. Go to your GP and request to be referred to counselling. I am NOT being sarcastic.
@Danny Rafferty: So low, are you for real, tell that to all the familys who have lost loved ones in the gang wars, or anyone who has died from murder in general, guns do not not murder people, humans murder humans whether that be by guns, knifes, fists, feet, any object that is man made can be used but the it must be used by man
@Paul Byrne: anything other than a semi-automatic in this incident and the death toll is lower. Anything other than a gun and it’s lower again.
@Paul Byrne: Is basic maths and logic beyond you Paul? Are you intellectually unable to read what I wrote and link the fact that there are THOUSANDS of less people to console in these situations in Ireland because we have these laws than not?
The “humans kill humans” line is not clever or effective either Paul – it marks you as a fool.
I am serious – you need help.
Trump should cut his trip short rather than monitoring the situation from Japan. Something needs to be done regarding America’s gun laws, sooner rather than later.
Devin Patrick Kelley is the suspect. Will Trump crack down on Irish visas?
@Philip Gerard:
Trump incredibly has stated yesterday’s Texas incident “not a gun issue”
Can sensible and dependable John Kelly, Trump’s Chief of Staff, and accompanying him on current Asia trip, double check the safety catch on that famous bag..you know..the one containing the nuclear codes.
The whole of mankind could be on its way to Mars by the weekend, if this volatile raving lunatic is not kept on a good tight leash.
We need guns in Ireland to protect against the Muslims.
@Swole Mickey: Guns? we need part 2 of the crusades
@Paul Byrne: in Ireland? Who would you like to target?
@Dave O Keeffe: I do not understand the question
@Paul Byrne: the entire tonnage of what you don’t understand could stun a team of oxen in their tracks
Yawn.
@Psyarron: tired? Go to sleep, you need a rest. The sarcastic big man who, incidentally has a Simpsons motif as his avatar who were created in the state’s that he now finds comical when citizens of said country get slaughtered.
Guns kill, full stop. How stupid does a person have to be to sell guns to any nutcase going and have that rubber stamped by the nation?
Donald Trump is upholding American gun laws/culture… from Japan, and God will fix all the broken lives. What a deranged man.
The comments section here is a complete mess
Wake up. Take the guns out of the hands of the general public. Guess what there won’t be anymore senseless gun massacre or violence. Stupid American gun lobby and stupid laws
I think it’s safe to say the NRA can be labeled a terrorist organization.
Terrible
@Tom Burke: shockin
have your say