Almost 250 youngsters given firearm permits in two years

2:58pm Saturday 19th April 2008

POLICE have given gun licences to children aged only 11 in North Yorkshire.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show 248 children under the age of 18 were given permits for firearms and shotguns in the last two years.

Youngsters have to fill in a form and attend a routine police interview to get a licence for weapons including .22 rifles, .243 rifles, .410 pistols, .410 shotguns and 12-bore semi automatic shotguns.

North Yorkshire Police issued three shotgun licences to children aged only 11, eight permits to children aged 12 and 12 to 13-year-olds.

Children as young as 14 were even given a firearms permit, which are harder to obtain.

In total, the force granted 211 shotgun licences to youngsters aged between 11 and 17, and 37 other types of firearm to those aged 14 to 17.

But Humberside Police issued only 36 guns to under-18s in total.

Last year, the European Union agreed to ban anyone under 18 from having a gun. The ruling must become law in Britain by 2010, but until then children can continue to apply for gun permits.

Anti-gun campaigners said the figures were "scandalous".

Rebecca Peters, director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) said: "This loophole must be closed now. To issue a shotgun licence to an eleven-year-old is nothing short of madness."

John Shipley, who helps run North Yorkshire Shooting School in Felixkirk, near Thirsk, said the safest way for youngsters to be able to use a gun would be to visit a shooting school.

He said: "We have a section 11 certificate which means anyone can come and shoot here and use our guns without needing a licence.

"We will not be affected by the change in the law and children of 11 or 12 upwards can come here and try shooting, under strict supervision. There is always an instructor with them.

"I've been brought up with guns since I was knee high, but they need to be used in the right circumstances and it all depends what sort of hands they are in.

"It is not safe for an 11-year-old to walk off into a field with a shotgun unsupervised."

In England there were 4,645 gun licences issued to under-18s in the last two years.

The figures were revealed after two nine-year-old boys were shot by a youth who fired a pellet gun into the playground of St Lawrence's Primary School, in Heslington Road, York, on Thursday. Officers said they still did not know what type of weapon was used, but urged parents not to buy replica guns for their children.