Children holding firearms licenses

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https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/19469149.100-children-hold-gun-licences-thames-valley-area/

Can someone educate me why children hold gun licenses in the UK?

There's a SEVEN year old somewhere in the UK with one

I understand a 17 yo with one but there's 247 under 13s with a shotgun certificate.

Yes, my brother was a teenager when he first obtained a shotgun licence. He has a firearms licence now.

Would you rather they were prosecuted fior not having the correct licence?

Do you mean teen as in 16/17 or 13/14? Why would a 13yo need a firearm ?

I know plenty. They shoot as a sport.

Do historical re-enactors need them?

Sport?

@Bryonyshcmyony

I know plenty. They shoot as a sport.

Are they shooting at a target like a clay pidgeon or actual animals?

Yes, a sport. Like fishing. Or clay pigeon shooting.

You can't hold a firearms certificate until you are 14

A shotgun licence isn't the same thing

I always thought that it wouid be DC from farming and other rural families who wouid have these licences. And I doubt they are using the shotguns unsafely or unsuitably

You wouldn’t be shooting a target with a shot gun!

It’s not a problem though, is it?

Yes I admit I might be using firearms and shotgun interchangeably. I'm not suggesting that there is irresponsible use going on but she 7? Under 13? Blimey

Yep it's a spot... even an Olympic sport.

@LtDansleg

It’s not a problem though, is it?

My kids could have safely driven a car on the road at 16 but the law is 17.

Maybe it's because I don't live rurally but 7-13 year olds using a shotgun sounds crazy to me.

They shoot pheasants and have their own shotgun. I know a 9 year old with his own shotgun.

@Hen2018

You wouldn’t be shooting a target with a shot gun!

Sorry clueless here

My kids could have safely driven a car on the road at 16 but the law is 17.

It's 16 in some circumstances

My son had one at 14. He was a very successful clay shooter. Competed in World Championships.

It’s quite hard to commit crime with a shotgun. They spray out pieces of shot (hence the name), not a bullet. You can’t use them for target practice as they’d just destroy the target. They are difficult to conceal and quite heavy, which is why criminals have sawn off shotguns. It’s illegal to shorten the barrel of a shotgun, fit obvious reasons.

So few teenagers are going to kill people with shotguns. If they were, they probably wouldn’t get a licence.

Fire arms are the next stage up and are basically small rifles for shooting bigger animals. They’re nothing like the US where they have machine guns and ridiculous things.

There is nothing inherently wrong with having guns and licences.

The problem is people with hand guns. You cannot have a licence for these as they are illegal.

My daughter got her licences as a teen. She is a member of a gun club and shoots competitively. She really enjoys it and is good at it

Maybe it's because I don't live rurally but 7-13 year olds using a shotgun sounds crazy to me
I do and yes I imagine a good few of those will be in rural areas where there may be more use of shotguns for pest control eg and they probably hold the licence so they can be taught how to safely use or behave around dangerous weapons. As they are required by law to be closely supervised under 15, that’s probably sensible. And some will have taken up a sport, clay pigeon or pistol shooting.

Sorry clueless here

Probably best not to offer opinions on something you know nothing about.

I also doubt that those who bother to properly adhere to the strict rules and regulations are one to be particularly concerned about misuse if that’s your concern? Or are you talking more about exposure to weapons at a young age?

I was shooting before I was 10 but only under adult supervision

But, legally there are lots of things you can’t do without having your own shotgun certificate and firearms license, including having access to the gun safe

If you’re a farming family, it would be helpful, useful to be able to say to your teen ‘can you pop back to the house and grab a gun or some more ammo so I can shoot this rabbit/put this injured sheep out of its misery’ and that would require the teen to have their own licence
Without a licence, the teen can’t even legally know where the keys to the safe are kept, let alone open it

Equally, there isn’t much harm in a sensible team wanting to shoot 150 clays as practice before a competition without close supervision which would again require their own certificate

Or, a teen competing at clay shooting who gets a lift to competitions with another family
If the child didn’t have their own licence, the driving parent would have to complete paperwork to temporarily add the gun onto their licence for the duration of the journey there and back, then more paperwork to transfer it off their licence
All easily solved by the child having their own licence

I can think of half a dozen more scenarios where it would make sense, none of them involve a 13 year old holding up a bank or post office

I’ll also point out that you can have a shotgun or firearms licence taken off you very quickly if you do anything wrong. Someone locally threatened his ex girlfriend when they broke up (not with or mentioning the gun but verbally) and his licence and gun were removed pretty much instantly.

You’ve got to have various referees and a police visit to show that you are securing the gun and ammunition securely in different places. And for securely, this could mean having to have a gun safe and an intruder alarm.

It's not legal for the u14s to shoot unless under the supervision of a suitable adult over the age of 21 - even airguns (which have controlled sales but do not require a licence) or shotguns (which require a shotgun licence but not a firearms certificate)