Jethro as it is illegal to sell BBguns here (ever see them selling anywhere) but it is not illegal to own them (I don't get the reasoning behind that). I have a fair few of them (I bought in france).

What do you mean gun laws are lax over here compared to America? Ireland has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. If you don't own land you have to prove you've some place to shoot a rifle before you buy it (i.e written permission from two landowners (with more than 50 acres) to shoot on their land), you have to keep the gun and ammo in a safe when its not in use, and there's no chance in hell that you can buy a handgun for any reason what so ever (a friend of mine is on the Irish shooting team and he hopes to enter in the pistol catergory in the next olympics and he has to travel to the nearest army base to practise and he cannot even buy a custom pistol to use), .....etc.

And NetSyn check with a local gunclub cause they'll surely know.