Scotland Bill

Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

I hear what the noble Lord says, but there are a lot of people here anxious to speak. There are in fact three dozen such people. Some have come from Scotland—perhaps on the train or the aeroplane—specifically to speak. Therefore, it would be inconvenient if we did not continue. Everything we do in this place is important. I do not think that we should be looking at this in pecking-order terms. We do know that it is convention—just as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, said about voting convention—that we first have what is perceived as divisible business. The usual channels agreed this; it may have been some time ago, but it was agreed, and so I think we should proceed.

[The Earl of Shrewsbury]

My Lords, forgive me for intervening, but would it not be much more sensible, for a Bill of this constitutional importance, to deal with half of it today, and half on Friday? Then we can all do it properly.

[Lord Bassam of Brighton]

My Lords, I only venture into this to say that I think that the Government are wise at all times to be flexible in their approach. Although I am part of the usual channels, I must say I did predict at the time that this would not be an easy passage for the Bill. I go no further than that, because I do not want to undermine the effectiveness of the workings of the usual channels. However, I think that noble Lords agree that these are points that are very well made to the House, and they have validity.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Earl of Shrewsbury]

My Lords, in welcoming this important Bill, I must declare my interests. I am the honorary president of the Gun Trade Association and of the British Shooting Sports Council. I am a member of both the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and the Countryside Alliance. On my past record in defending and promoting the shooting sports over the past 20-odd years, it will come as no surprise to your Lordships that I wish to address several issues raised by Clause 11, in which it is proposed to devolve the power to regulate air guns to the Scottish Parliament.

Since 1920, legislative control of all firearms, including low-powered air guns, has rested with the Westminster Parliament and legislation has been applied to England, Wales and Scotland. A different regime of controls applies in Northern Ireland. Low-powered air guns are those that generate not more than 12 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle in the case of air rifles, or six foot-pounds in the case of air pistols. While such air weapons are subject to an extensive system of controls, they are not subject to licensing. It is now proposed in Clause 11 to devolve controls of low-powered air weapons to the Scottish Parliament. Controls of other classes of firearm, including high-powered air guns, will remain with the Westminster Parliament. There is little intimation of what controls are planned by the Scottish Government but it seems likely that additional restrictions will be imposed in Scotland, creating a different regime in one part of Great Britain.

The Gun Trade Association has estimated that around 4 million people in Great Britain own and use some 7 million air guns. In Scotland, around 700,000 people own approximately 1 million air guns. Between 150 million and 200 million air gun pellets are fired in Scotland each year. Air gun owners invest heavily in their guns and in accessories such as telescopic sights. The air gun industry has a turnover of around £750,000 per year in Scotland. There is, in addition, a considerable trade in both air guns and accessories with other parts of Great Britain.

Air guns are extensively used by responsible owners for legitimate reasons. Ten-metre air rifle and air pistol events for men and women will feature in the forthcoming Olympic Games, as they do in the Commonwealth Games, European games and other major international and national competitions. The starting point for all competitors in these events is the local shooting club, and the well-being of those clubs is the key to success at national and international level. Competitive air weapon shooting demands very high levels of fitness and, perhaps most of all, discipline. Air gun shooting is seen as very much a character-building sport by organisations such as the Scout movement.

Air weapons are extensively used to control pests such as rats, rabbits and some birds. In many rural communities those linked to agriculture see air weapons as essential tools in their work. Among the wider shooting community, air weapons are seen as a vital training tool, allowing mentors to instil high levels of skill, discipline and safety into newcomers to shooting sports, particularly youngsters. Most of today’s sporting shooters made their start with an air weapon of some description.

Perhaps the most extensive use of air guns lies in informal shooting, with parents or elders teaching their youngsters to shoot in the privacy of their own garden. Shooting sports are a major source of income in Scotland. In 2006, a report to be found on the VisitScotland website shows that direct income from providing shooting for visitors is estimated at £80 million per annum, with two-thirds of that coming from outside the country. Many of those visiting Scotland to shoot will take along an air weapon so that they may supplement their sport on the deer by indulging in pest control and informal target shooting.

Like almost every instrument known to man, air weapons are misused. However, the evidence is that the misuse of air guns is very low and is susceptible to control by vigorous policing. At the most serious end of the spectrum, air weapons are very rarely involved in homicide. In England and Wales during the period 1983 to 2002, there was an average of 0.6 homicides per year in which an air gun was involved. In Scotland, from 1998 to 2005-06, the comparable number was 0.2 cases per annum. Comparative statistics work better with larger numbers. The number of offences for all classes in England and Wales in which air guns were involved during 2000-01 was 10,227 cases. The figure peaked at 13,822 in 2001-02. There was a slight and insignificant reduction in the following year, but a dramatic fall from 2004-05, which has been sustained to date.

In seeking an explanation for a halving of the number of offences in England and Wales, researchers have pointed to the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, which took effect in January 2004 and which created a simple and easily enforced provision in the case of someone having an air weapon in a public place, whether loaded or not, without a reasonable excuse. Other new controls included restricting selling by way of trade to registered firearms dealers and new age limits for acquisition and use. Linked with an extensive programme of education by shooting organisations, these have provided the police with the tools they need to control the problem without imposing major restrictions on legitimate users.

In Scotland the picture is a little different. In the 1990s, the number of air gun offence cases per year was around the 1,000 mark, but from 2000-01 to 2009-10 that number has been driven down to an average of about 500 cases per annum. Comparison with the figures for England and Wales shows that police in England and Wales have driven that number of cases down to a level comparable with that in Scotland. The indications are that continued police efforts in this field are capable of driving down this problem of air weapon abuse much further without the need for a new or different regime of control in one part of Great Britain.

All the evidence shows that the police have an ample range of powers to deal with the misuse of air guns and that the UK Government have been ready to consider the evidence and implement additional controls where appropriate. The result over the past two decades has been a halving of the number of reported offences, first in Scotland and then in England and Wales. Misuse of air guns has been consistently lower in Scotland than it has been in England and Wales, and no evidence is available to show that further restrictions would be beneficial to Scotland.

The absence of any detail about what the Scottish Parliament proposes in respect of air guns makes it impossible to understand what consequences will flow from this clause. There has been an indication, via press releases in 2008, that a proposal to license air guns in the same manner as rifles has been under consideration. It is understood that officials have liaised with the Irish Government about the licensing system there. The intention is to license only those people who use air guns for occupational and sporting uses. That implies a system akin to that for the current firearm certificate, which involves a great deal of police time and effort in inquiring about the nature of the use of the gun, the background of the individual, storage arrangements et cetera. Police in England and Wales have estimated the cost at £102 per certificate. The cost of the certificate may therefore exceed the value of the air gun in some cases. Less well disposed owners may simply decline to submit to this bureaucracy and there will be no mechanism for tracing them. No one in Scotland knows precisely how many air guns are currently in circulation and, more importantly, who has them.

The administrative burden of introducing an air gun licence will be enormous. There will be potential demand for 700,000 certificates, although the history of the gun control regime suggests that actual take-up will be far less—perhaps half a million, almost certainly decreasing with the passage of time. If the “good reason” requirement is imposed, many certificates will be refused, and the administrative burden of a refusal is much greater than that of a straightforward grant. There will be appeals to the courts with high costs involved.

There are currently about 50,000 shot gun certificates and 26,000 firearms certificates in Scotland. The overlap—those who hold both certificates—is not officially published but has been estimated at 17 per cent of shot gun certificates, being 8,500, making a total of 67,000 certificate holders. The added burden of air gun licensing on the police might initially increase the current burden on firearms licensing departments. With government cuts, they are losing staff right, left and centre, seven or eightfold.

Many Scots will be able to cross the border into England to purchase air guns and their accessories, and the nature of the border is such that no one will be any the wiser. Visitors from England may in ignorance continue to bring their guns with them, or they will require a visitor permit. Visitors involved in sporting shooting are most likely to leave their air guns at home, with loss of revenue to providers of the sport. Those competing in major national shooting events, such as the annual Scottish shooting meeting, will be seriously inconvenienced and will incur additional costs. Many are likely to restrict their efforts to events in England and opt out of the Scottish events. The problem will extend to events such as the Commonwealth Games, in which air gun events are mandatory. There will be considerable difficulties continuing with the major role of the air gun, which is training young shots in informal target shooting. The trade in air guns would be very hard hit by any such change and it seems highly likely that many suppliers, especially specialist suppliers, will simply go out of business.

Trade sources have calculated that, of the 5.1 million Scots, 700,000 own air guns, which is 137,000 air gun owners per million population. In Northern Ireland, 1.5 million people own 20,000 air guns, which is 13,000 air gun owners per million population. Thus, over a period of years, the imposition of an Irish system would eliminate 90 per cent of the law-abiding air gun users who apply for a licence, leaving about 70,000 as a long-term burden on the police—still a greater burden than that of administering the current firearm and shot gun certificate system, but a shadow of the present legitimate air gun owning population.

In conclusion, I look forward to tabling amendments in Committee.