IT is 10 years since two-year-old Andrew Morton was killed by a man who fired an airgun at him and his brother in a Glasgow Street.
For 10 years Andrew’s mother has campaigned for tougher controls on the weapons.
Initially, there were calls for all airguns to be banned or for stricter controls than those passed yesterday by MSPs.
But to have legislated in haste following the death would have been to rush through a law which could have created more problems and discriminated unfairly against responsible owners and necessary ownership.
Not all MSPs agreed with the law and there may well be some problems inherent in it.
But the principle that if you want to own an airgun, which – as the family of Andrew Morton know all to well – can be a lethal weapon, you should have a licence for it and good reason for owning one.
The responsible owners will still be able to own and use an airgun, those who use it for pest control will still be able to use them for professional purposes.
What the law is designed to do and will hopefully achieve is that people like Mark Bonini who killed little Andrew will no longer be able to get their hands on one.
It is a long time in coming, but it takes time to consider all the issues.
We hope this law will indeed prevent another family from suffering like little Andrew’s.
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