As the law stands there is no effective control on offensive weapons other than firearms, save in limited circumstances where they are employed to commit a crime. I believe there is general agreement that that is not satisfactory and that the law should be tightened. The purpose of this Bill is to provide comprehensive controls on stun guns, crossbows and other offensive weapons.
The Government have been very concerned about the advent of weapons such as stun guns. Also of concern has been the availability of crossbows which are becoming ever more sophisticated and are potentially lethal. As well, incidents involving what I might term the more traditional type of offensive weapons such as knives have become more frequent. It is against this background and with these concerns in mind that the Bill has been introduced.
In broad outline, the Bill seeks to deal with the problem in the following way. Stun guns and crossbows ar being brought within the ambit of the Firearms Acts. The possession of knives, or articles which can be misused in a similar manner to knives, is being made an offence in places of public entertainment or resort. The possession of flick knives and weapons made or adapted to cause injury in a public place is being made an offence, as is the carrying of any article with intent to cause injury or intimidate. To have an offensive weapon while trespassing on private property will be an offence.
It will be an offence to produce any article capable of causing serious injury to intimidate in furtherance of a crime or during a fight or dispute. Also, power will be conferred on the Minister for Justice to make regulations to prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale etc., of weapons which he considers particularly dangerous or objectionable and for which there is no legitimate use or need. What is in mind here is weapons such as flick knives, knuckle-dusters, certain martial arts weapons etc. Finally, the Garda will be conferred with the necessary powers of arrest, search and seizure to enforce the provisions of the Bill.
Before dealing with the detailed provisions of the Bill, I would like to make some general comments about its format and the background to it.
In framing the Bill I took cognisance of the need to provide adequate legislative controls on the possession and availability of offensive weapons while, at the same time, avoiding any unnecessary or unreasonable interference with people's right to possess and to use articles which, while they may be employed as offensive weapons, have legitimate sporting, recreational and other uses. The Bill aims to achieve a balance in this regard. This is why the various weapons encompassed by the Bill are subject to different and varying degrees of control.
I believe we have got the balance right but I look forward to having the benefit of Senators' views on this and other aspects of the Bill during the course of debate. I invite and will welcome any constructive suggestions which might improve the Bill.
In the context of achieving the balance I referred to, each of the categories of weapon dealt with in the Bill was considered separately in terms of what controls could best be applied to it. First, there is the question of stun guns.
A stun gun is a device designed to emit a high voltage electric pulse to interrupt voluntary muscle control and temporarily incapacitate a person with whom it is brought in contact. There is no doubt that it is a dangerous weapon and open to serious abuse. Stun guns have been on sale in this country for some time under different brand names. They have been openly advertised as a self-defence weapon. This has been possible because there is uncertainty as to whether a stun gun is encompassed by the existing definitions in the Firearms Acts. The legal advice available to me is that they probably do already come under the Firearms Acts but until the courts have had an opportunity to decide the matter we cannot be certain.
The Garda authorities have advised me that they regard stun guns as dangerous weapons which are open to abuse, particularly in the hands of criminals. I have no doubt, therefore, that this weapon should no longer be available.
The Bill provides that stun guns will be firearms for the purposes of the Firearms Acts. This will make their importation illegal, except under licence granted by the Minister for Justice, and will make their sale, ownership etc. unlawful without an appropriate firearm certificate issued by the Garda Síochána. Given the nature of this weapon I do not envisage that any licences or certificates will be granted in respect of them. The only use to which a stun gun can be put is to incapacitate another person and I can see no case for licensing a person to keep a weapon for this purpose.
It might be argued that there is a case for allowing stun guns for self-defence. I could not agree that people should be allowed or encouraged to arm themselves in this way. There is also the very practical concern that if these weapons are available at all they will eventually find their way into criminal hands. I am satisfied, therefore, that there is no justifiable case for the availability of stun guns in this country.
The next item I considered in framing the Bill was crossbows, Here again we are concerned with a dangerous weapon with lethal potential in the wrong hands. However, unlike stun guns, crossbows do have legitimate uses. They are used by persons engaged in the sport of archery and by members of archery clubs. I am told, in fact, that they are particularly suitable for disabled people wishing to participate in that sport. It would, I believe, be unreasonable to totally prohibit them. I think the correct balance is achieved by what is proposed in the Bill. They will be designated as firearms under the Firearms Acts. This will permit their strict control while, at the same time, allowing them to be used for legitimate sporting and recreational purposes.
Next I had to consider the problem of other offensive weapons. We are all aware of the extent to which offensive weapons are being used. Particularly frequent are stabbing incidents involving young people. These cases can be particularly unfortunate as they often arise where drink has been taken, a row develops outside a public house or after a dance, a knife is produced and the episode ends in tragedy. What needs to be done is to dissuade young people in particular from adopting the practice of carrying knives or other offensive weapons, particularly at dances, discos, concerts, football matches etc. What is not acceptable and what we must try to prevent is young people being led to believe that carrying knives will establish them as "hard men" or give them a "macho" image.
In the recent Intoxicating Liquor Act I have tried to tighten up the law on under-age drinking. In the Video Recordings Bill, which was recently debated in this House, I am endeavouring to ensure that children and young persons will not be exposed to the pernicious effects of the video nasty. I hope the provisions of this Bill will dissuade young people from the practice of carrying knives or other weapons.
The question of legislative controls on offensive weapons was a matter considered by the Law Reform Commission in their report on vagrancy and related offences. To the extent that the Commission made recommendations in this area these have been incorporated in the Bill with one exception which I will explain later when dealing with the relevant provisions of the Bill.
I will now deal in brief outline with the provisions of the Bill. Section 1 (2) provides that the Bill will come into operation on the date it is passed, except for Part II which contains the provisions extending the Firearms Acts to crossbows and stun guns and which is to come into force two months after that date. The period of two months is being provided to allow persons who are in possession of crossbows either to dispose of them or to obtain a firearm certificate or, in the case of those who are in possession of stun guns, to dispose of them.
Part II brings crossbows and stun guns within the definition of "firearms" in the Firearms Acts. As I have already explained why this is being done and the practical effects for persons who have either a crossbow or a stun gun, I do not think there is any need for me to say anything further on this Part of the Bill.
Part III relates to offensive weapons. The basic difficulty in framing proposals to deal with this problem is that many ordinary household articles can be used as offensive weapons and, to put the problem in concrete terms, we obviously should not prohibit the sale or possession of kitchen knives, screwdrivers, chisels or many other articles simply because they can be used as weapons by persons so inclined. It would also, in my opinion, be going too far to impose on the citizen who has possession of these articles in the ordinary way the onus of showing that he has them for an innocent purpose.
The proposal in the Bill is that the problem should be dealt with in stages so to speak. First of all, it refers to such places as dance halls, cinemas, discos and the like and sets down as the basic rule that, when people are likely to be resorting to these places, nobody should, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, have with him any knife or any other bladed or sharply pointed article other than an ordinary folding pocket knife. This is covered by section 5 (1). In this type of case, the onus is being placed on a person if he is found to be carrying a knife or other specified article — pocket knife excluded, as I say — to show that he has lawful authority or a reasonable excuse.
Section 5 (2) deals with flick knives and other weapons made or adapted to cause injury and extends to any public place. It prohibits a person from having, in a public place, again without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, any flick knife or any article whatsoever made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person. Apart from flick knives, on which we need not spend any time, the subsection deals with articles "made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person". What is in question here is mainly home-made weapons such as the filed steel comb or the razor blade embedded in some holder, or the piece of bicycle chain attached to a handle. Anybody found with a weapon of that kind in a public place will be committing an offence under the subsection unless he can show that he has lawful authority or a reasonable excuse.
What constitutes "lawful authority" or a "reasonable excuse" in terms of the offences created in subsection 5 (1) and (2) will depend on the circumstances and ultimately would be a matter for the court. It would not be possible in the Bill to specify all the situations in which these defences could be legitimately raised.
There is one further point I would like to refer to in relation to subsections (1) and (2). This is the burden of proof. In both of the subsections a person who is found with a knife etc. in circumstances which come within the scope of the subsections will be required to prove that he had lawful authority or a reasonable excuse for carrying the article. In accordance with the general rule as to where a burden of proof is cast on the defence, the burden will be to prove lawful authority or reasonable excuse on a balance of probabilities. While the Law Reform Commission in their report on vagrancy and related offences recommended the creation of offences along the lines provided in the Bill they took the view that it would not be desirable that a burden such as proposed should be placed on the accused. They considered that, provided the accused adduced sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue as to whether he had lawful authority or reasonable excuse, the burden of proving the contrary should be on the prosecution.
After careful consideration the Government have concluded that the burden of providing lawful authority or reasonable excuse should be placed on the defence as the relevant subsections propose. This is because they consider that otherwise there would be too great a danger that a guilty person would escape conviction by putting forward a false defence which the prosecution might be unable to refute, with the results that the provisions would be unduly weakened.
In subsection (3) it is proposed to make it an offence to carry, in a public place, any article intended by the person unlawfully to cause injury to or to intimidate another. This will, of course, include any type of knife etc. What is important is the intent of the person having the article and not the nature of the article itself. Criminal intent is an essential ingredient of the offence and the onus of providing such intent will be on the prosecution. However, in establishing whether such intent existed, the courts will be entitled to look at all the circumstances — the type of article, the time of day or night and the place — and, if the circumstances so warrant, to draw its own conclusions as to the person's intentions in the absence of any adequate explanation by him.
Section 6 provides that it will be an offence for a person to trespass on private premises with a dangerous knife, a bladed or sharply pointed article or weapon of offence as defined in the section. This provision is designed to deal with the situation where a person trespassing on premises is found with an offensive weapon in his possession. It is very likely in such circumstances that the person involved has criminal intent, including very possibly intent to use the weapon if need be. While it would be reasonable to assume that intent from the circumstances, it could be very difficult to prove. Therefore, this provision wil not require proof of intent. It will be enough to show that he has been found trespassing with a weapon.
The purpose of section 7 is to deter the use of weapons or dangerous articles to intimidate. It will make it an offence to produce any article which is capable of causing serious injury — and this could be something other than a weapon per se such as a pick, a hammer, a plank of wood etc. — while committing a crime or appearing to be about to commit one or during a fight or dispute in a manner likely to intimidate another person.
Section 8 gives the Minister for Justice power to make regulations prescribing weapons other than firearms, which are dealt with in the Firearms Acts, which may not be manufactured, imported, sold, etc. The types of weapons that will be prescribed in the regulations will be decied in consultation with the Garda authorities, but it is envisaged that flick knives, knuckle-dusters and certain martial arts weapons will be so prescribed.
Section 9 provides for the forfeiture of an article where a person is convicted of an offence in respect of that article under the Bill. It would obviously be wrong if a person could be convicted for carrying a flick knife in a public place and could demand the return of his knife once the criminal proceedings had been concluded. Hence this provision.
Sections 10 and 11 provide powers which the Garda Síochána will require to enforce the new legislation on offensive weapons. A power of arrest without warrant is being provided in relation to offences under section 5, 6 and 7. In addition the Garda are being empowered to obtain search warrants to search premises in respect of offences under section 8.
Section 12 provides the Garda with power to search persons under specified conditions. The powers conferred by the section would not permit a garda to search a person on mere suspicion of carrying a weapon. An outright stop and search power or what, in a neighbouring jurisdiction, became known as the ‘sus law' is not, I think, required in this country.
Section 12 provides that where a number of person are gathered in a public place or a place of public entertainment or resort and a breach of the peace is occurring or a garda has reasonable grounds for believing that a breach of the peace has occurred or may occur, the garda may search persons whom he reasonably suspects to be carrying offensive weapons. The important feature of the section is that it gives the Garda power to search for weapons in crowd situations where trouble is likely. In terms of searches to be carried out under the section, frisking is all that would be required.
Section 13 confers certain powers on the Garda to search vehicles and persons in vehicles in respect of offences under section 8 — manufacture, sale, etc. of weapons prohibited by regulations made by the Minister. This provision is designed to deal with the situation where a person may be trading in prohibited weapons from a vehicle or transporting them for the purpose of trade.
I commend the Bill to the House.