Clause 43 - Air weapons: age limits
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
10:45 am
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
This, as I said several times during the opening debates on part 6, is the clause that deals with the legal age at which somebody can use an air weapon without supervision from the moment when it is bought. At the moment someone must be over 14 to do so, and the Government want to raise the lower limit to 17. The amendments in the group fit into two categories. The aim of the first set is to retain the status quo at the age of 14. The second set, which I shall come to, are an attempt to find a way round the problem that the hon. Member for Ludlow (Matthew Green) referred to—use on private land—which is the issue that causes the most concern.
I should like to spend a few moments reviewing current legislation on age restrictions, because there is a great deal of misunderstanding. I should have replied earlier to the hon. Member for Stockton, South. When I referred to the Teesside Evening Gazette having said that there was a Bill to ban air weapons, I was quoting from its website. If one is under 14, the law as I understand it says that one can use an air weapon only under the supervision of somebody who is over 21, or at a shooting club or gallery. One cannot buy or be given an air weapon, and it would be an offence for one to have an air weapon on anywhere at all on one's person. We have no dispute with that and the clause would not change it.
However, 14 to 17-year-olds can use an air weapon without supervision. They can be given one, although they cannot buy it, and they cannot have one in a public place unless it is, according to section 22(5) of the Firearms Act 1968:
''so covered with a securely fastened gun cover that it cannot be fired.''
I return to the concerns that I expressed earlier. By altering the age limit, the Minister is removing the opportunity for young people who are legitimately taking an air weapon from their home to a gun club or a shooting competition to move their weapons about. The hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) has raised the matter because of her involvement with the international sporting fraternity through the Olympic movement.
It is clearly an offence to fire an air weapon in a public place. One of the exceptions to an age bracket quoted in the Firearms Act 1968 is somebody who fires any missile beyond specified premises. To do so is an offence for that person and for the person under whose supervision he is acting.
A huge panoply of legislation exists to prevent abuse. In the context of handguns legislation, the Minister said a few moments ago that one cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong. However, criminal damage is an offence punishable by a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment or a fine of £5,000. A person under the age of 14 in possession of an air weapon or ammunition would face a fine of £1,000, as would a person under the age of 17 having
an air weapon in a public place and an adult supervisor of a person under the age of 14 making improper use of an air gun.
Another interesting offence, bearing in mind what Labour Back Benchers said, is that of discharging a firearm within 50 ft of the centre of a highway and causing injury, interruption or danger; that would attract a fine of £1,000, as would causing damage in such circumstances. Ill treating or causing unnecessary suffering to any animal, or killing an injuring any wild animal under schedule 5 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, would result in fines of as much as £5,000 or six months' imprisonment. A range of provisions is available to deal with the abuse of air weapons.
I recognise that the situations to which hon. Members referred are caused in part by young people—I readily accept that it happens—but it is not caused entirely by them, otherwise there would be no need for clause 42, which changes the law only for those aged over 17. There is clearly a problem in respect of young people; the question is what to do about it. We therefore need to consider whether simply raising the age at which they can use such weapons without supervision will reduce or eliminate such abuse, bearing in mind the existing constraints on their use.
I believe that the law already deals adequately with such misuse, and we should not assume that everyone between the ages of 14 and 17 is more likely to misuse an air weapon than those who are over 17. Clause 42 clearly deals with the carriage of firearms in public places, and the prosecution rates are clear evidence that the problem does not lie with the law.
Let us consider the impact that the change in the age restriction would have on those young people who use air weapons. First, it would affect the carrying of weapons to and from sporting events. Secondly, as I said earlier and as the Minister recognises, air weapons are the entry-level weapon for people who take the activity of shooting seriously. Target shooting can lead to international or even Olympic competition. Many people never go beyond air weapons, but continue to be proficient in target shooting with air rifles for the rest of their lives, whereas others progress to conventional firearms.