ANTI-GUN campaigners have warned the Government not to relax firearms legislation in the run-up to the London Olympics, saying: "A child's life is not worth a medal."
UK and Scottish ministers have agreed that from August, sportsmen and women will be given special permission to use their weapons at Ministry of Defence ranges in Britain. At present, competitors have to train abroad.
It is a major breakthrough
for British Shooting, the sport's governing body, which has campaigned for years to exempt its members from the strict laws introduced after gun collector Thomas Hamilton massacred 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School in 1996.
But Anne Pearston, who led the Snowdrop Campaign that led to the Firearms Amendments Act 1997 banning the ownership of handguns, said she was opposed to the exemption. "A child's life is not worth a medal," she said.
Pearston said while there had been other school massacres around the world, the UK's tough laws had prevented further British tragedies.
She said: "I want us to get to the 20th anniversary without another school massacre. We don't want any weakening of the legislation – if anything it needs to be tightened up. The Government is supposed to safeguard the public, not be swayed by sportspeople."
The UK-wide Gun Control Network, which replaced the Snowdrop Campaign, said it had been pressing ministers to keep the handgun ban intact.
Gill Marshall-Andrews, the network's chairman, said: "We are opposed to any kind of change in the legislation, even for training purposes. Some of those who have taken up the sport are young enough to have done so since the ban was introduced, knowing that it was illegal in this country. Why should we put wider society at risk for the sake of a few sportspeople?"
John Leighton-Dyson, British Shooting's performance director, said: "We are not asking for US-style liberalisation. We just want an opportunity for a small number of sportsmen and women to be allowed to compete in the Olympics and win gold medals for their country. I'm sure that's something that every right-minded member of the public would support."
The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it expected a trial exemption for sportsmen and women to begin in August after the Beijing Olympics.
The exemption would run up to the 2012 London Olympics and, if successful, be extended to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
