DAILY RECORD

1 May 2002

  The newspaper reported an incident in which a 17 year old pupil at Fettes College pulled an airgun from his bag and blasted a fellow pupil in the chest in front of other pupils after a playground feud. The shooting was not reported to the police. A school spokesman confirmed that an incident had taken place and that one pupil was suspended for two weeks.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

30 April

  When a group of 14 year old boys were firing a .22 air rifle at targets at the home of one of the boys on Teesside, the boy aimed at his friend Matthew Sheffield. A pellet lodged in Matthew's brain and he died the following day. The boy is on trial for manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court.

SCOTSMAN

15 April 2002

  Three football players were hit by pellets fired from an airgun during a match between Shotts Bon Accord and Blantyre Victoria at the Castle Park ground in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. The police believe that the shots may have been fired from a wooded area close to the ground.

TIMES

5 January 2002

A 14 year old girl was at risk of being shot by police as she waved a gun in the air outside an Edinburgh shopping mall in a late night incident. The weapon was a silver handled air pistol.

JOURNAL (NEWCASTLE)

30 November 2001

  Daniel Lumsden, 18, appeared before Gateshead Magistrates Court charged with the airgun shooting of 15-year-old Nicola Diston. The attack blinded Nicola in one eye.

SCOTSMAN

10 November 2001

  Nicholas Griffith, 19, was jailed for nine months after aiming a gun in the face of a government minister's secretary in Fulham, London. The weapon was a silver pellet gun.

LENNOX HERALD

25 October 2001

  A 15 year old appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court after he discharged an imitation gun at a householder whilst attempting to steal a motorbike in Alexandria, Dumbartonshire.

RIPLEY & HEANOR NEWS

20 September 2001

  15 year old Darren Harrison underwent emergency surgery on his stomach after being shot while walking on a public footpath. Surgeons were unable to remove the airgun pellet which wounded him. The police found evidence of target practice taking place on the path which runs between a wood and open fields.

DERBY EVENING TELEGRAPH

28 August 2001

  Two young swans have been left with serious head injuries after being shot.... An RSPCA Inspector said "Two people appear to have gone and deliberately used these swans as target practice with no regard to the suffering they must have gone through".

GUARDIAN

5 June 2001

  Ben Ellams, aged nine, from Widnes was shot in the head with an air pistol.