A SENIOR Conservative MP who said that children who live in the countryside should be taught to handle guns faced calls for his dismissal last night.

Patrick Mercer, the Tory spokesman on “homeland security”, said that children in rural areas should be taught to use non-lethal weapons such as air rifles to learn “respect” for firearms. He claimed the ban on handguns introduced after the Dunblane massacre had had “no effect” on spiralling gun crime.

Anti-firearms groups and politicians condemned his remarks, made at a party fringe meeting and repeated on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme.

Dee Warner, from Mothers Against Murder and Aggression, called for Mr Mercer to be sacked from the Conservative front bench. “I have been speaking to the other anti-gun groups and we would like him sacked for making such crass comments when so many people are fighting to take guns off the streets,” she said. “I just find his comments appalling. It shows how out of touch he is with what is happening on our streets. Teaching children to use firearms is completely misguided.”

The MP told Good Morning Scotland: “While laws have been introduced to ban legally held pistols in gun clubs, that had absolutely no effect on gun crime. If anything, it has driven it up or helped to drive it up.”

Mr Mercer said he had not suggested children should be taught to use handguns. “The only thing I said was that in rural areas it made sense for things like airguns and BB guns to be handled by children so that in later life when they have access to shotguns they knew how to handle them safely and with respect,” he said.

John Swinney, the SNP leader, labelled the Tory MP’s comments “disgraceful” and demanded that Michael Howard, the Tory leader, should back him or sack him.

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