Yahoo Finance Youngest holder of a shotgun licence is just seven years old, Home Office figures reveal
The youngest holder of a shotgun certificate was aged seven, according to new firearms figures from the Home Office.
He was one of 247 children aged under 14 who had a shotgun licence in the year to March 2020 with a further 2,482 aged 14 to 17 also having a firearm or shotgun certificate.
Children under 14 are allowed to possess shotguns provided they are supervised and after rigorous police checks.
They are conditional on them abiding by specific uses which include for sporting purposes, for use at a rifle or pistol club or cadet corps or at a miniature rifle range.
The youngest in most previous years has been eight but in 2012 there was a child of just five who had a shotgun certificate.
As at 31 March 2020, 586,351 people held a firearm and/or shotgun certificate, a decrease of 0.8 per cent or 4,951 compared with the previous year
The areas with the highest number of firearms (held on certificates) per 100,000 people are rural including North Yorkshire (2,887), Dyfed-Powys (2,675) and Cumbria (2,565).
The Home Office said ownership of firearms and/or shotguns in these areas was largely linked to employment such as game keeping and farming or leisure such as target shooting and game shooting.
Of the 586,351 certificate holders 94 were male and 70 were aged 18 to 64. Just 0.5 per cent were aged 17 years and under.
As at 31 March 2020, an average of 2.4 shotguns were held on a shotgun certificate. This has remained stable for the past 12 years. A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. Young shotgun certificate holders are under very strict controls, including supervision and thorough police vetting. “The police also have powers to revoke certificates if there is a risk to public safety.”
