I was surprised to discover an amendment to the Firearms Act. Thomas Docherty (Labour Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West) introduced a private members bill to legislate a minimum age of 14 for a shotgun license.
I did not understand why Thomas was arguing for a minimum age in Parliament – especially a young threshold.
Perplexed by this revelation, I decided to investigate further and see what Docherty said when begging to move. Horrified is what I then became;
At present there is no minimum age for possessing a shotgun licence. This is at odds with the legislation covering other firearms, where there is a minimum age of 14. According to figures that I obtained from the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire), almost 5,000 children in England and Wales possessed a licence to fire a shotgun. Of those 5,000 or so licences, 26 were issued to 10-year-olds, 72 to 11-year- olds, 134 to 12-year-olds and 231 to 13-year-olds. It is unfortunate that neither the Scottish Executive nor the Northern Ireland Executive keeps figures centrally for their devolved areas. However, I am sure we can assume that the figures are proportional to those elsewhere.
Heavens.
Granted, these figures are located in rural England and most likely on farms; I do feel the urge to ask a moral question though. Should the state be granting access to firearms for adolescents, especially children?
danielfurr
There’s nothing problematic with firearms per se, the problem comes when people aren’t taught how to use them properly. I’m certain that there are some ten year old shotgun license holders who are far more responsible with them than some thirty year old shotgun license holders will ever be.
While an age restriction is probably a good idea, the real issue here is to make sure that the license application process ensures that the license holders will be responsible owners and users of the firearms.
Have to agree with Mr Potter. I’d hazard a guess that those ten years olds are the children of people with firearms. People who probably will be teaching their kids how to safely use a weapon. Within a safe environment, with adult supervision by someone who knows about guns, there’s no problem. Education about firearms is the important thing.
“While an age restriction is probably a good idea, the real issue here is to make sure that the license application process ensures that the license holders will be responsible owners and users of the firearms.”
Agree – however the concept that a child under the age of 10 – i.e. someone who cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions – being allowed to use a lethal weapon is ludicrous.