§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government when is it proposed to draft revised regulations relating to control of firearms in the light of the Report of the Working Party whose review of this matter was said by the Government to have been completed last September.
THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS)My Lords, my right honourable friends the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Scotland have nearly completed their consideration of the results of the review of the firearms law. They intend to publish in the near future a consultative document setting out their provisional conclusions and to invite comment before deciding what proposals to place before Parliament.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, while thanking the noble Viscount for that Answer, may I ask him whether he would impress upon his right honourable friends the great urgency of this matter, since it is more than two years since I first raised it in your Lordships' House? In particular, will he ask his right honourable friends to give high priority to the regulations relating to shotguns, inasmuch as I understand it is still legal to have as many shotguns as one likes on one certificate and to hang them all on the front door, for any passerby to help himself?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I think we do understand the urgency. As for shotguns, I did not understand that they were on the front door: I thought they were kept loaded in the garage. But the situation is indeed extremely serious, and it is one of the matters in the forefront of the minds of both my right honourable friends.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Viscount.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, if the situation is extremely serious why do we have to wait so long for a Report on it? Further, does it mean that, pending such Report, it is possible for borstal boys and approved school boys, boys' clubs and public schools to engage in shooting practice with guns which are accessible?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, as to the urgency of the matter, first of all, we have moved as quickly as we possibly could, and I would suggest to the noble Baroness that in fact the Report has been followed up with considerable urgency by the Government. The consultative document is really a constructive approach towards going ahead. As to the possession of firearms by schools, I think that, on the whole, these consist of small-bore rifles. I speak without any particular information on this matter, but, if that is so, then of course they are subject to severe controls under the existing firearms legislation. There have been instances where they have been stolen, I know, but as far as I am aware it is not the control on these arms which has particularly engaged the attention of noble Lords, although it is very much one of the things that we shall bear in mind, together with control of shotguns.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, may I further ask the noble Viscount whether he would agree that, rather than reintroduce the death penalty, which means, in the case of a shooting murder, the loss of a guilty life and of an innocent life, it might be better to make the regulations controlling firearms so strict that people are not able to shoot other people in murders, in which case no innocent life is lost at all?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, wide though that may be of the apparent Question, I agree with the noble Baroness that it is exceedingly relevant and that one cannot dissociate one's decision on this particular matter from the much wider issue that she has mentioned. I will draw her remarks to the attention of both my right honourable friends.