Time for a total ban on air guns?

[Darth Hibbie]

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=16358771

Another child injured with an air weapon. Do we need tighter controls on air weapons or is it time for a total ban?

[matty_f]

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=16358771

Another child injured with an air weapon. Do we need tighter controls on air weapons or is it time for a total ban?

I'd go for a total ban on them.

[Darth Hibbie]

I cannot think of a single reason why somebody would be carrying one around. For that reason alone I see no need for any shops to be selling them. I understand that some farmers and such like use them for pest control and such like but there is no reason why the sale and use of them could not be strictly controlled.

[Jay]

A couple of years a go my (then) 10 year old was playing football on a bit of grass near us, there are loads of houses round about. The ball went through the fence into the back of some garages and as he bent down to pick up the ball he felt a sharp pain in his head. In the 2 minutes it took for him to get home he was covered in blood. I tried to see where the blood was coming from but heads are a nightmare for bleeding so we went to the hospital. The docs are convinced he was shot with an air pistol, presumably from one of the surrounding houses or garages. I was horrified - who would do that to a wee boy? What if he had looked up at that second? It could have been his eye.

Ban them I say :agree:

[Wembley67]

Classify them in the same category as a real gun, proper firearms certificate required etc etc but I wouldn't ban them as a previous poster says they are used in farming for example.

[matty_f]

Classify them in the same category as a real gun, proper firearms certificate required etc etc but I wouldn't ban them as a previous poster says they are used in farming for example.

Just ban farms and that as well then.:greengrin

[Wembley67]

Just ban farms and that as well then.:greengrin

Aye good point...cull the inbreeding :cool2:

[DaveF]

When I was in my younger days, I was an air gun owner and used to shoot rabbits etc.....when on farm land. (normally it was just tin cans, targets stuck on trees and the like).

I even did a bit of .22 shooting when I was abroad and once shot a .303 which was an experience as the recoil almost took my head off.

Can't deny that I got a real buzz from that sort of thing.

I had an air rifle right up until my wife had our 1st child and whether something clicked or whether I instantly grew up then I don't know, but I got rid off it immediately and haven't bothered with them since.

In correct environments, I think they should be allowed, but there has to be strict controls. I assume at the moment, you can still walk into a shop and walk out with an air rifle? If so, that's not good enough.