Did you realise there is no minimum age requirement for a shotgun licence, and that children as young as 10 are being issued with them?
It was news to me too, and I find it amazing that such a legal loophole exists, which has been highlighted in this report by the East Anglian Daily Times.
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.
A police spokesman was quick to point out that when people think about young people and guns, they think about inner-city crime which has nothing to do with a lawfully held shotgun which could be used for clay-pigeon shooting. Licence applications are countersigned by an adult. The law is the law, their hands are tied, and they have to issue them.
However, I don’t feel comfortable about this, do you? Anti-gun campaigners do not feel children are mature enough to use a powerful weapon. I would be interested to know how many young shotgun holders have been involved in accidents. Do the police ask why pre-teens want a shotgun? I would like to see the data on that too.
I am shocked. And no i dont feel comfortable about it.
Surely this law needs to be looked at?
It does seem very strange, especially in Britain. However when I was an early teenager I used to go shooting in the bush with my older brother who had a 22 gauge rifle. He taught me how to shoot, we mostly shot tin cans. What was my mother thinking? She was so strict I can’t believe she let us get away with this. A different time I guess.
Always thought JMB was a dangerous girl.
Wow, what a surprise, didn’t know that.
“Anti-gun campaigners do not feel children are mature enough to use a powerful weapon.”
Anti-gun campaigners don’t think anyone is mature enough to use a powerful weapon.
Here’s some perspective. During the Napoleonic wars, it was not unheard of for a midshipman of fourteen or so to be given command of a prize vessel and crew and told to sail the ship back to England. Anyone who has read Mr Midshipman Hornblower will remember the story of “The Cargo of Rice”. There’s a real-life example here.
Isn’t our infantilisation of teenagers the reason they’re so disaffected with us?
There is an award for you at my blog. A well-deserved award, I might add. Please come by and pick it up.
My family own many many firearms. My wife has her own shotgun & my 10 year old son uses firearms on a regular basis … all perfectly legally.
Every time I see the hysteria whipped up in the sensationalist gun fearing press about youngsters & air weapons (or firearms), my Boy gets sent out into the farm yard to shoot rats because out here, vermin control has always been a youngsters job.
Since he has been physically large enough to lift a weapon, he has been taught & is continuing to be taught, all aspects of handling, marksmanship & safety.
I take it that your comments on who might be competent to safely use firearms comes form your lifetimes experience of weapons handling?
And I was worried about issuing my boys with their first penknives recently !
I feel that there is some merit in what is said about how we treat everyone as irresponsible in the UK – these people have bothered to get licences after all. Were previous generations stupid to have allowed such a young age for ownership ? Or has the quality of our people deteriorated ? Lowest common denominators again.
A far more deadly issue is the availability of sex for our children. There is rarely a prosecution for underage sex and the state does much to fund the consequences thus perpetuating the problem.
I’d rather kids have a gun under the watchful eye of a parent than their have their own baby aged 12 or so.
So many of the killers on our streets come from broken homes – they don’t need guns to do it either. Just the callous ability to kick someone’s head like a football.
I can’t understand why you seem to be shocked at responsible parents teaching their children about practical and safe use of firearms.Mind you..being responsible doesn’t seem to feature in todays Britain.
I guess it would make for infrequent posting if you just wrote about the things you don’t want to ban.
Thanks for all the comments, I’m still surprised there is no minimum age limit for a person to own a shotgun, that they can be accessible to children so easily.
Elle, there is an minimum age to own a shot gun, its 10 years of age, which is also the age of criminal responsibility.
maybe if we sent kids out shooting at the weekends on a range, they wouldnt want to shoot each other come monday morning
although if you want to ban guns, just go on about the carbon footprint of a single round and your lefty nonsesense will be all over the news by 6pm
Dave, the story I read on this said there was no minimum 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.”
Why is this a problem? Children are having fun and learning responsible gun use. Should these kids be out on the streets drinking and whoreing instead? A gun is not a problem. The person who misuses a gun is the problem. Back in the days when anyone with the money could buy a pistol at Harrods, crime was a lot lower in the UK. Please move beyond the demonization of in-animate objects.
Ms Seymour,
With the greatest of respect I think you are making a mistake common to many people of an anti-gun frame of mind. The problem is not the legally licenced weapons, but, as the policeman said, the illegal, far more dangerous ones that find their way into the hands of children in the inner cities.
If you stop and think about it, what child of under 16 has the money to purchase a shotgun without some parental input? What child under 16 has his or her own firearms cabinet (as required by law)? These licences are issued (by responsible firearms officers no less) so that sons and daughters of adult firearms owners may partake in a perfectly legal activities alongside their parents.
Personally I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable with children learning about weapons from adults who own them and know how to use them safely than from television or their gangsta chums at school.
As for accidents? Given the hysteria that surrounds firearms in Britain I would imagine that we would have heard about any such incident, had one occured. Indeed, if one thinks back over the past five years, how many news reports have there been about children being involved in incidents involving a licenced shotgun? Now compare that to the number of reports about children being involved in incidents involving illegal weapons (including knves etc).
The problem isn’t the legal weapons or legitimate firearms owners. I’d even go so far as to say it wasn’t really the illegal weapons either. It’s something much deeper – a problem with the psyche of a significant minority of today’s society.
I think if the children are tought to respect and learn how to handle fire arms then there should not be a problem with fire arms. You should take into concideration ages that have had the most accidents and i bet it is the older generation and not the youn shots. i myself have 2 sons 6 and 7 they are both members of the B.A.S.C and have been for two years now.