I think the point is being made eric, that the call for decommissioning of weapons has been too one-sided so far. I think everyone accepts that all weapons should go; Sinn Féin call for ALL sides to de-militarise constantly.

Yet still, focus is always shifted back towards the IRA, as if it were the only protagonist in the situation.

This particular thread seem to have originated from a post I made in another one: HERE, as part of a discussion surrounding David Trimble's legacy now that his role in six county politics is, to all intents and purposes, over.

To date the IRA have verifiably destroyed a fair number of major arms dumps.
The only Loyalist group to hand in anything, was Billy Wright's/Johnny Adair's LVF; mostly a home-made assortment, and more dangerous, in cases to the person that's actually firing them, than the person they're actually being aimed at.
And there was only 9 of them in any case, with about 300 rounds of ammunition.

What Tiocfaidh has called for, and quite a lot of people accept... judging by the discussions on other relevant threads, is that Loyalist weapons must be called for to be de-commissioned, as well, and makes the point that platitudes are not enough any longer, if everybody agrees that all weapons must go.

How Dave the Gnome has formulated his mail, and I thank him sincerely for his 'leadership' on this one, is that while recognising that all weapons must disappear from politics..., a bit more pressure could be put on the other, Loyalist, factions to to so. Let them share the spotlight, as it were.

Thank you very much incidentally, all who have taken the trouble to mail your MP on this issue.

A levelling of the playing field is needed in 'N.I.' politics, and it should not mean a come down in anyone's stand on the matter, to lobby your local MP to call for more even-handedness while addressing the subject of de-commissioning.

To date, only the IRA and the British Army have pulled back. The Loyalists are still fully armed.
Hence my original call in the earlier thread for more pressure to be put on them.

It is strange however, that when people speak of handing in weapons, the terminology always used is either 'Sinn Féin/IRA' or 'ALL'
The term 'Security Forces/Loyalist Paramilitaries' never gets a look in..., unless those of us who live on the ground here, bring it up.
It should though, given that the term has been proven to be a correct description of the state of affairs in the courts, many times.

It is the main recruiting base for Ian Paisley's Third Force; the 'Police Service of Northern Ireland', if he had his way.
That can never be allowed to happen.

So, Loyalist Paramilitaries have to be called into the equation here.
To not do so is to ignore a very large part of the problem, and prolongs the inevitable socio-ecomomic amalgamation of both North and South of our island.
God almighty, there's only 5 million of us North and South.
Half the population of London, for heaven sakes.
It's not such an earth-shattering concept

It will happen, eventually.

So please...

Mail early.
Mail often.

We want the Loyalist weapons off the streets, as well.