“Thirteen children under the age of 10 have been issued with shotgun certificates in the UK over the past three years. The youngest child to be granted a licence was seven years old, figures obtained by BBC News show. Last year, the Association of Chief Police Officers suggested that under-10s are banned from using shotguns”.

James Purdey shotgun, by eschulz

At first glance, the idea of a seven-year-old wielding a shot-gun is somewhat alarming.

But on the other hand, this isn’t a bunch of kids running around a playground packing heat – these are either children learning a sport – just like football, cricket, skiing, or badminton. Or archery, which I myself used to do in our back garden when I was seven. Or they’re children living on farms, where gun use is a standard tool of the job, like a plough or a tractor, learning how to carry out the family business.

Just because they have a firearms certificate, that doesn’t mean they keep a sawn-off in the toy cupboard next to the action man, rather they have access to a weapon which is constantly kept under lock and key when not in use, and when is being used it is done so completely under close adult supervision.

In short, these are children who are being brought up to have nothing but a healthy respect for firearms, to understand fully the implications and responsibilities of their use, and to understand that a gun is not a toy.

Compare that with 90% of other children, who grow up with toy guns to play with, who run around playgrounds shooting each other in games of cowboys and Indians, or cops and robbers. Or indeed sit in their bedroom in front of a screen laser-blasting the invading Ayleeyons, or their friends in networked Call of Duty. Objectively, which is actually worse?

The cornerstone of a liberal democracy is freedom, where legislation is only enacted to protect the public, and new legislation is only introduced in response to clear problems, and only then introduced in a considered manner after full weighing up of the pros and the cons.

So, alarming as a 12 year old having a firearms certificate might seem, in the absence of any problems having manifested as a result of it, what objectively is the problem?

“Speaking on US network CNN’s State of the Union, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen said: ‘This is obviously a political decision. On the same programme, influential Senators Joe Lieberman and Ben Cardin questioned whether the move had been made to improve British-Libyan trade”.

There has indeed been a lot of anger from politicos etc in the USA about the release of this person on the grounds that he is expected to die within three months, and us British people have the notion of ‘compassionate release’ built into our justice system.

I trust, though, that there isn’t going to be any backlash from people in California:

“California lawmakers are to vote on a plan to release 27,000 prisoners early. The proposal is part of a solution to a $26bn dollar budget deficit and the problem of chronic prison overcrowding”.

Because that would be hypocritical of them – wouldn’t it?

“The international cocaine market is ‘in retreat’ after a year of successful operations around the world, the Serious Organised Crime Agency claims. It says its undercover work has helped send wholesale prices soaring.Prices per kilo have risen from £39,000 in 2008 to over £45,000 (50,000 euros), but street prices have remained stable. Prices per kilo have risen from £39,000 in 2008 to over £45,000 (50,000 euros), but street prices have remained stable”.

I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing or a success at all, really – completely the opposite, in fact.

The cocaine producers and wholesalers (I have visions of dealers piling down to Makro to get their stock in) have seen a 15% increase in turnover, whilst at the same time the retail price on the street has remained the same; this isn’t like O’Neill’s absorbing the cost of the last budget’s duty increase on the price of beer to keep the price at the pump the same, instead the dealers have included even more cutting agent – rat poison, worming powder, cancer-causing phenacetin etc – in with the cocaine itself; recent seizures of street cocaine have seen purity levels as low as 9%, the lowest ever.

So this ‘success’ means increased profits for the producers, increased profits for soap powder suppliers, increased demands made on the health service due to the increased amount of insecticide people are snorting up their hooters. And, of course, increases in the statistics for SOCA making them look good at a time when it is under increasing pressure to demonstrate its effectiveness. So that’s alright, then.