Shotgun licence issued to a 7 year old

[tiggerblue10]

How do the licence issuers know that children under 15 are being supervised by an adult when out shooting?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12840557

[albaqwerty]

Wait til the next headline is 7 Year Old kills Dad/Mum by accident.

Flipping ridiculous. Remember the outcry about young kiddies in Dunblane being killed?

[andy-hughes]

The problem with a hobby is that people who take part assume that everyone is as enthusiastic as they are, and approaches the hobby with the same level of maturity and safety-concious attitude as they do.

So that extends from the stamp-bore who gets his seven-year-old son interested - potential for killing someone, negligible,

to the shooting enthusiast - who does the same with his son - potential for killing someone - exixts and therefore unacceptable.

I don't care how 'stable' the family is, how 'mature' the child is, or how 'strong' is the argument for teaching children to handle guns safely, the simple fact is, the words

'child' 'handling' and 'gun' do not belong in the same sentence in anyone's mind, and certainly not in the real world.

[RATTER15]

I agree 7 is too young I am all for youngsters being trained young to use a gun if that is in their family ie: if dad shoots etc, I would always take my boys with me shooting when they were young. It teaches them to respect a gun and when they are brought up around guns and I dont mean guns on the street) they have a lot more respect for them.

I was brought up in an era when every young boy had a sheath knife on his belt or a penknife in his pocket, we were even permitted to take knives to school as they were never a problem, stabbings were almost unheard of. Now that knives are banned, its seen by youth to be tough to carry one and even tougher to use one.

[Ouzel]

I had to re-check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st. It seems like madness.

[Hymie]

Much as anyone would think it madness to give a 7 year old a shotgun licence – I think that the reality of the situation is not all it would seem (as reported in the Daily Mail et all).

I can assure you that the 7 year old in question was not permitted to wonder around farmland (or anywhere else) with a loaded shotgun in hand.

The condition of the licence was almost certainly that the 7 year old, only handle the weapon under the supervision of a named person (probably the father) and only at clay-pigeon shoots. But that would not make much of a story for the Daily Mail.

[andy-hughes]

I appreciate the fact that the media will slant anything to outrage its readership Hymie - but I find the concept of a seven-year-old being introduced to guns under any circumstances to be worrying - and I think most people would.

[tiggerblue10]

I didn't see the Daily Mail report. Was it different from the BBC News report?

[ChuckFickens]

There were always shotguns and rifles laying about at both my grand parents farms from as young as I can remember, they wouldn't be loaded but the live ammo for them would only be on a shelf next to them.

I was taught from a very young age to respect them, leave them alone and that they were dangerous and then from the age of about 12-13 I was taught how to use them and basically told if I spotted a fox in the farm to come and get a gun and shoot it.

But that was a very different era and being on a farm that was the normal way at that time and I'd agree 7 is a bit too young.

I hope they are only teaching him to use a .410, anything else is going to throw a 7 year old backwards across the field when he fires it!

[tiggerblue10]

I used a shotgun when I was about 6 or 7 to shoot tin cans in the garden. This was back in the 70s and the shotgun belonged to my uncles. Again that was a different era and we didn't know any better. Gun (and knife) use has taken a violent turn since then.

[ChuckFickens]

That's why I said I hope it's a .410, Eddie.

I reckon a 7 year old could shoot a .410 OK as they hardly kick at all, giving them a 12 gauge (or a 10!) would knock them flying.

[andy-hughes]

I appreciate that in any sphere of life where there is potentially dangerous and fatal use, there is a section of society who will use objects safely and for their purpose.

But that applies to heroin as well - and no-one would sanction the supposed 'responsible' introduction to that for anyone.

As far as I can see, guns and children simply do not and should not mix - there is far too much potential for accidents, no matter how carefully safety proceedures are drilled into young minds.

[tiggerblue10]

I agree Andy. Accidents can happen as all parents know.