Fire Arms for 8-year-olds

Children as young as eight are being given fire arms lessons at a top private school in Dorset, which has been attended by members of the royal family.

Port Regis School, on the Dorset Somerset Border, has been criticised for giving its pupils shooting lessons, despite Lord Tebbit’s plea on Sunday that the teaching of shooting will reduce gun crime.

Head master, Mr Dix refused to associate the teaching of shooting in his school to the growing number of children killed across the UK, by guns each year.

Mr Dix said he thought shooting was an important part of a wider education often enjoyed by those in middle and upper classes.

He said that by teaching children to shoot they would gain better coordination and would learn to associate positively to guns.

“It is a million miles away from gun crime on the streets.” He said.

“We aren’t breaking any laws, the children learn to use guns responsibly and safety is paramount.”

“By teaching shooting as a sport we are in no way promoting the use of gun related crimes.

“It is the same as drug education” He said. “We teach children about drugs, to educate them, we are not telling them all to go out and become drug addicts.”

He added that if other children learnt to use guns in a recreational setting, they would also learn to associate them positively and perhaps reduce the growing number of gun related incidents.

“The majority of our pupils tend to be upper middle class and would not be part of a gang on the street with hand guns.”

The Private school, near Shaftesbury, has a long list of prestigious past pupils including Zara and Peter Philips, the children of the Princess Royal.

Angela Lawrence works for Mothers Against Violence, a voluntary group based in Manchester, whose aim is to change young peoples perception of gun crime.

Angela, who has lost many friends through gun related violence, has been campaigning for eight years to see the end of all gun use throughout the UK.

She said that she couldn’t understand why parents and teachers would want to teach children how to shoot, when there are so many other forms of recreational activities.

“Children as young as eight shouldn’t be learning to shoot, even in a controlled environment, we are sending them the wrong message.” She said.

“I think that a message needs to go to society to explain that guns kill.”

“We are aiming to see a gun free society, especially in sport.”

Despite the efforts by voluntary organisations such as Mothers against violence, the number of deaths and injuries from gun attacks in England and Wales has risen from 864 in 1998-99 to 3,821 last year.

Peter Dix admitted that he had not considered shooting at the school to have any negative connotations and that it had been taught throughout much of its 86 year history.

Mr Dix said that no risk was posed by children, as young as eight, using air rifles in target practice and he said that he hoped some of them would go onto compete in the 2012 Olympic games.

Jamie Stuart, spokesman for the British association for shooting and conservation in the South West, explained that shooting in a sport setting needs to be put into perspective.

Mr Stuart, who also teaches young children how to shoot, said that in the correct environment shooting can be perfectly safe.

“Shooting is a discipline that children can continue through life.” He said.

“We aren’t offering shooting skills to children who wouldn’t normally learn how to shoot.

“We teach children who come from a certain background, who already have an interest in shooting and teach them how to do it safely and responsibly.”

“If people are irresponsible, they are irresponsible but we aren’t encouraging by teaching young people how to shoot.”