Missing rifle...

[BenBhoy]

‘It meant so much to him’: Shane MacGowan’s wife on the hunt for his missing Easter Rising rifle

A widespread search has been sparked after Victoria Mary Clarke noticed a rifle owned by the late Pogues frontman was gone. She explains why this piece of history was one of the few possessions he cherished

www.theguardian.com

Uh-oh.... Special piece too

 

[chriswjx]

I'm assuming a deactivated piece...

Not sure what the storage rules are in Ireland, but certainly wouldn't have thought this

She says it was between the fireplace and the bookshelf and well camouflaged.

 

[noncomplianz]

How well? Maybe it's still there.

 

[jimmer.13]

Probably swapped it for a bottle of poitin…..

 

[Dalua]

...or a jug of punch, a bottle of Ponchartrain, a half a pint of Powers, whisky in a brothel in Madrid, 15 pints of beer, etc

I am a little disappointed that it wasn't his old Howth gun, though. God bless his immortal soul alive.

 

[Dunwaters]

I'm assuming a deactivated piece...

Not sure what the storage rules are in Ireland, but certainly wouldn't have thought this

You don’t need a cabinet for a single firearm, you do need to remove the bolt and store it and the ammunition separately.

 

[kenbro]

Apologies…..missed that thread.
Ken.

 

[DavyG]

Probably swapped it for a bottle of poitin…..

McGowan battled with drug and drink addiction for most of his life. Poor humour to speak ill of the dead.
DG

 

[jimmer.13]

McGowan battled with drug and drink addiction for most of his life. Poor humour to speak ill of the dead.
DG

Just your opinion chap..... I don't really care to be perfectly honest. Plastic Paddy an ok performer but a great song writer who made some pretty poor life choices. By the way Hitler is dead........not comparing a drunk to a genocidal maniac of course but you get my point.....

 

[DavyG]

Just your opinion chap..... I don't really care to be perfectly honest. Plastic Paddy an ok performer but a great song writer who made some pretty poor life choices. By the way Hitler is dead........not comparing a drunk to a genocidal maniac of course but you get my point.....

Opinions are like ar$eholes…everybody has one.

 

[jimmer.13]

Opinions are like ar$eholes…everybody has one.

You’re absolutely bob on mate… some people would see him as a romantic lyrical genius, others would view him as an open supporter of a prescribed terrorist organisation responsible for some unforgivable atrocities.
The latter would score him quite high on my cu*tometer….

 

[Smellydog]

Dead or alive, your reputation is what goes before you....

 

[pob]

Born in Tunbridge Wells, he went to an exclusive prep school and then was at Westminster School. He was kicked out for drug misuse.
A mate of mine was a big fan and met him once. That moved him to say "You should never meet your heroes" (He said the same about Mark E Smith from The Fall).
Whilst I agree with many of the opinions above,
he wrote a truly wonderful song. He was greatly loved and is deeply missed. I'm happy to let people have that.

 

[LeftHandGuy]

I'm interested to know what the provenance for the rifle is/was. It seems pretty questionable that he had any deep legal right to own it. Perhaps there is some karmic appropriateness that a stolen rifle should have been stolen again from a man who was such a representation of the anti authoritarianism that defined the punk genre.

My suspicion is that he would have appreciated the joke (even if he wasn't very happy about it).

Rough on the grieving widow though.