Scottish airgun ban blocked by Whitehall

PLANS to take control of firearms law and impose an airgun ban north of the border have been blocked by UK ministers, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, in a letter leaked to Scotland on Sunday, has told SNP ministers she will not hand over gun laws, slapping down the change as "confusing and potentially damaging".

Last night, the decision caused a huge cross-border row, with the SNP accusing the Labour-led UK Government of ignoring serious crime in Scotland and "frustrating" further moves towards devolution. Police and anti-gun campaigners also condemned Smith's refusal to hand over firearms law.

Scotland on Sunday revealed in July that the UK justice secretary Jack Straw had met First Minister Alex Salmond to discuss the issue. Straw is said to have agreed to "give careful consideration" to Scotland-only reform.

Although the SNP has never categorically stated it will ban airguns, it believes decisive action is needed north of the border to address high levels of gun crime. Three Scots have been killed and 1,154 injured over the past eight years by airgun pellets.

The airgun killing of two-year-old Andrew Morton, from Easterhouse, Glasgow, in 2005 resulted in the boy's father handing over a petition signed by 11,000 people to MSPs backing an outright ban on the sale and use of almost all airguns.

SNP ministers have been discussing devolving all firearms laws permanently to Edinburgh but have also said they would settle for a one-off deal in which Westminster would allow Holyrood to legislate just on air weapons.

But in her letter to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, Smith states: "I do not believe it would be sensible to devolve responsibility in the way you suggest."

She adds: "I think it would be confusing and potentially damaging to create a situation in which the entire body of firearms law in Scotland could ultimately differ markedly from that in England and Wales.

"There is no impediment to cross-border movement and it would be very difficult to enforce separate regimes and to prevent organised criminals from exploiting any differences."

UK ministers are believed to fear that if Scotland went ahead with a ban, it would create a black market in which gangs in Scotland would begin a trade in gun sales.

Senior police chiefs are also worried a total ban could be unworkable, as an estimated 500,000 airguns are already in circulation in Scotland.

MacAskill last night lashed out at the Labour-controlled Scotland Office, run by Scottish Secretary Des Browne, for the breakdown in the talks.

"I am extremely disappointed that the Westminster Government has not recognised that Scotland needs responsibility for firearms legislation to deal with this extremely serious problem in Scotland, particularly air weapon crime," he said.

He added: "There is no doubt that when I met Jack Straw in July he was very sympathetic to the issue, as indeed he was on the important point that any prisoner transfer agreement with Libya must abide by the wishes of the Scottish Government.

"However, I detect the dead hand of the Scotland Office behind this. With the Scotland Office dogmatically against any further form of devolution – they have even talked about clawing powers back – not only are they ignoring the serious problem of air weapon crime in Scotland, they are leaving the Labour Party's commitment to further devolution threadbare and confused."

Joe Grant, of the Scottish Police Federation, hit out at the Home Secretary, saying: "It has been shown that there is a need for a ban on air weapons in Scotland. Whether it is achieved through devolving powers or through UK legislation, the pressure for that ban should continue."

Ann Pearston, who led the Snowdrop campaign to ban handguns after the Dunblane massacre, condemned Smith's move.

She said: "There is no reason why we cannot have a different law in Scotland. Children's lives are at risk. They have a different law in Northern Ireland on this issue and we have lots of different laws in Scotland.

"We have our own different education system and I don't see why we cannot protect our children from this menace. I have yet to hear a decent argument why we need airguns, and there are many arguments why we should ban them."

But Robert Sheddon, the manager of the Cluny Clays shooting range, said: "Banning airguns would solve absolutely nothing. Do you think the people who use air weapons irresponsibly are suddenly going to walk into a police station and hand them in? It is so easy for people to buy guns out there; the police know where they all are. If you banned sales, it would do nothing to that whatsoever."