Cases of children treated for gun injuries double

Published on 26/06/2010 20:07

THE number of children admitted to hospital for gun injuries has more than doubled in a year.

According to figures released yesterday, 13 children required hospital treatment after the "accidental discharge" of a gun in 2009-10, up from five the previous year.

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown, who obtained the Scottish Government data, said the jump in accidental injuries should be investigated.

He said: "The UK has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. Children should not be hospitalised as a result of gun accidents.

"The number of children admitted to hospital after gun accidents has more than doubled since 2008-09. The Scottish Government needs to investigate this so we can bring these numbers back down.

"Children should not be able to get their hands on legally owned firearms – they should be locked away.

"Something is going wrong with the law as it stands and Scottish ministers have a duty to look into this."

The provisional figures for 2009-10 showed that no person under 16 was admitted to hospital for intentional gun injuries. The number of children treated for injuries caused by blunt objects dropped from 27 to 22 over the two years. Injuries from sharp objects dropped from 76 to 62 in the same period.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Incidents where a firearm has caused an injury are decreasing, with a 52 per cent drop involving under-10s and a 63 per cent drop involving 11 to 13-year-olds. But any incident is one too many."