CHILDREN as young as 10 are being issued with shotgun licences by Suffolk police, an EADT investigation has found.Anti-gun campaigners have condemned the decision, arguing children are not responsible enough to use the powerful weapon.
Anthony Bond
CHILDREN as young as 10 are being issued with shotgun licences by Suffolk police, an EADT investigation has found.
Anti-gun campaigners have condemned the decision, arguing children are not responsible enough to use the powerful weapon.
A Freedom of Information request found that an 11-year-old has been given a shotgun licence by police already this year, while in 2006 a 10-year-old was handed one.
In the past five years 182 under-16s have received shotgun licences from Suffolk police which are valid for five years.
Rebecca Peters, director of the International Action Network on Small Arms, said: “A child of 10 is by no means equipped to take on such responsibility. This is a legal loophole which the UK Government must close.”
Chris Mole, Labour MP for Ipswich, said he was surprised by the findings.
“I think that to handle a weapon of any sort outside of a controlled environment requires a degree of maturity and responsibility and I am not sure that can be guaranteed from a young person.
“I am surprised that children as young as 10 are being given shotgun licences. Application forms require the counter signature of a responsible person who I would hope would think twice about signing a form for somebody of that age.”
Suffolk police said the law does not provide a minimum age for shotgun certificates but children under the age of 15 must be supervised by a person over the age of 21 at all times.
A youngster applying for a shotgun licence would have to submit an application which needs to be countersigned by a parent or guardian and counter signed by an independent person.
Following that an officer would attend the youngster's address and conduct an interview in their home in the presence of their parent or guardian and assess suitability.
Richard Kennett, Suffolk police's firearms services manager, said: “We can only enforce the law as it is and that is what we are doing. The law does not stipulate a minimum age for them to learn how to use a gun properly under supervision. Clay pigeon shooting is an Olympic sport and if youngsters are interested in a sport like that, if they are not introduced to it at an early age they would possibly not reach the standards to partake in that event.
“People perhaps when thinking about young people and guns think about inner city crime which has got nothing to do with lawfully-held shotgun.”
William Heal, Eastern Regional Director of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, said:
“We start training them as youngsters at the age of 10 because we find that the younger you train them the more safe and responsible they are. I have been training youngsters for 17 years from the age of 10 upwards to be safe and responsible and all the training goes towards that. There has never been a problem or incident with a youngster and shotgun in the country as far as I am aware.”
Number of shotgun licences issued to under-16s
2003 42
2004 41
2005 22
2006 45
2007 32
Age of the youngest person in Suffolk to be issued with shotgun licence.
2003 10
2004 10
2005 11
2006 10
2007 11
2008 11
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here