Ban on airguns won't work, insist critics

Published on Tuesday 28 August 2007 00:51

MINISTERS insisted last night they would pursue plans for a Scotland-wide ban on all air weapons despite condemnation from airgun enthusiasts and a warning from a senior police officer a ban would not prevent future tragedies.

The SNP administration wants to ban all air weapons in Scotland and has started negotiations with the UK government to find ways of bringing this about.

A spokesman for the First Minister yesterday stressed ministers were determined to drive forward a prohibition which would cover airguns, BB pellet guns and other air-action guns. The spokesman said ministers did not want to stop legitimate club shooters from continuing, nor did they want to stop paintball games or pest control.

But anybody in possession of an air weapon would have to prove they had a very good reason for having it to avoid prosecution.

Stewart Orr, National Secretary of the Scottish Air Rifle and Pistol Association, said a ban would be useless. New laws would, he insisted, put so many obstacles in the path of legitimate clubs that many would close down, while doing little to crack down on illegally held weapons. "They have not listened to us; they have just jumped on a bandwagon.

"If you look at offences committed by people with airguns, 99 per cent are underage and in nine out of ten cases, the guns are given to them by their parents. They are breaking the law but nothing is ever done to them," he said.

Mr Orr said the current laws were not being enforced rigorously enough with offenders often given community-service orders or other minor punishments for breach of the peace when they should be punished under tough firearms legislation. The law is changing in October with the age limit for airguns raised to 18 and tougher licensing for retailers.

Mr Orr's scepticism was reinforced by Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine who warned a ban on airguns would not solve the problem.

He said: "I think we must remember that there is a handgun ban in place in Britain at the moment but it hasn't stopped, obviously, tragedies of the nature of the little boy in Liverpool being shot. So a ban of itself would take weapons off the streets but it wouldn't necessarily prevent that type of tragedy occurring again."