|
The father of a nine-year-old boy who lost part of his tooth after being shot in the face is campaigning to have all ‘toy’ guns removed from Glasgow’s shops.
A plastic pellet from a toy gun struck Andrew McGowan in the mouth shattering part of his tooth while holidaying on Arran in August of this year.
His father, Alistair McGowan, said: ‘Since the incident here on Arran I have seen these guns being sold in shops all over Glasgow. These are not toys, they can do serious damage to anyone hit by a pellet. I want to see them taken off the shelves.’
The McGowan family are from Clarkston in Glasgow and come to Arran regularly on holiday.
Mr McGowan said: ‘These guns are weapons. The pellet completely destroyed his tooth exposing the root. That shows just how powerful these weapons are.
‘Andrew was very lucky that he was only struck in the mouth and not the eye. Thankfully we can fix teeth but you can’t fix eyes.’
Andrew has had to have extensive reconstruction on his front tooth.
He explained: ‘I had to have a veneer fitted in the end. It took four weeks to repair and I had to take a lot of time off school.’
‘Every shop that you go into sells these guns,’ Mr McGowan said, ‘I asked one shopkeeper to take them off his shelves. I even showed him the article from The Arran Banner to prove how dangerous they can be. He said he would remove them from his shop but he is still selling them. The gun is on sale — complete with ball bearings and goggles — for £14.99 from behind the counter of the Para Para convenience store in Eaglesham Road, Clarkston.
‘It has a note on the packaging saying it is ‘the best gun for over 18s’. Staff say they check the ID of anyone trying to buy one. The toy gun also comes with a warning: ‘Do not shoot at any human or animal.’
But Alistair fears the plastic guns could easily fall into the hands of younger people.
Shezy Majid at Para Para said he understood what Mr McGowan was saying but would continue to sell the toy guns.
Mr Majid said: ‘We understand, but it’s not illegal for us to sell them. There are a lot of shops in Glasgow that sell them. I do not see why he is specifically picking on us about it. There are no government restrictions. If the government changes the law we would take them off the shelves.’
Mr McGowan added: ‘Andrew was very lucky but another child may not be so fortunate. I won’t stop protesting about the guns until they are taken off the shelves everywhere.’
