A teenage boy has been caught with a gun on a Scots street during a stop-and-search operation by police.
Officers seized the firearm from the 14-year-old boy in Fife after receiving reports of an incident in September last year. The shocking discovery was just one of 123 cases of weapon carrying among kids as young as ten in 2024.
Figures reveal that between April and September, children and young people were found with blades, drugs and other weapons after a series of stop-and-search inquiries across the country. In June, a girl was found in the possession of a weapon and class B drugs in Ayr.
The following month, a ten-year-old boy was found carrying a knife in Edinburgh. The damning findings, published by 1919 Magazine, have been made public amid the Record’s Our Kids … Our Future campaign, which was launched two years ago after we reported on a sickening series of attacks on teens and children across the country.
As part of the campaign, we have demanded the Scottish Government to ring-fence funding for safe spaces for youths to be guided and mentored in every community. We have also demanded social media giants to remove violent clips of young people from platforms before they go viral.
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents the rank-and-file, said a reduction of officers in schools and communities has led to “preventative” opportunities being missed.
Chair David Threadgold said: “Police officers who face members of the public in possession of knives or any other weapon are required to make immediate decisions to try to de-escalate those situations, and there are occasions where it is simply impossible to establish the age of the person involved. Officers are trained and understand that their actions must be justifiable and subject to the appropriate scrutiny.
“As police officers have largely withdrawn from school environments, the visibility of the police in our communities is less – and the police are seen in communities as merely a reactive force. Along with a reducing – if any – preventative element to policing, opportunities are being missed to develop the type of relationships and intelligence gathering that may form part of the solution to this.”
In June, 16-year-old Kory McCrimmon died in hospital after a disturbance at Glasgow’s Greenfield Park. A 13-year-old later appeared in court charged with the schoolboy’s murder.
Court papers state that Kory was stabbed on the body with a knife or a similar bladed article. Katy Clark, Scottish Labour’s community spokesperson, said she was “deeply disturbed” to learn children were carrying potential murder weapons in public.
The MSP for West of Scotland said: “The fact that children still young enough to play with toys are walking around with potential murder weapons is deeply disturbing. Not only does it create a potentially volatile situation for policing, but it is a sign that children are being led down a path of crime before they have even reached their teens.
“The seeming increase of criminal behaviour is highly concerning. The SNP must support the police to work with schools, social workers and others supporting young people while also ensuring they have the resources to tackle the organised criminals who are bringing these weapons into our communities in the first place.”
As part of Our Kids … Our Future, many experts, victims and their families have warned that another child or young person will die unless there is urgent intervention. The Record has highlighted the issue in schools, transport, shopping centres and in public areas.
A ScotRail driver previously told how trains were being used as “mobile gang huts” with youths left with “nowhere to go” since the pandemic. He spoke out after a teen knife killer was jailed for murdering a 14-year-old Justin McLaughlin at Glasgow’s High Street Station in October 2021.
We also reported on the death of Stagecoach driver Keith Rollinson, who was murdered by a teenage boy in a brutal attack in Moray nearly a year ago. Mr Rollinson, 58, passed away in hospital after succumbing to his injuries and suffering a cardiac arrest.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesperson Liam Kerr added: “SNP ministers have been asleep at the wheel while crime has spiralled out of control in Scotland, and more and more youngsters are at risk of getting caught up in such offences. They need to wake up to the gravity of this situation and ensure that our children are educated against falling into a life of crime and also provide police with the resources they need to keep communities safe.”
A Scottish Governmentspokesperson said: “It is wrong to suggest that crime has spiralled out of control when recorded crime is down 40 per cent since 2006/07. It is unacceptable that any child or young person is caught with weapons, drugs or stolen goods. Preventing children from going down a path where they are in conflict with the law and supporting them appropriately, constructively and effectively when they do, has been integral to our approach for over a decade.
“We have invested more than £4 million over the last two years to implement the actions set out in the Violence Prevention Framework. The Scottish Government initiative ‘CashBack for Communities’, an early intervention/prevention programme that is funded by money recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act, has supported around 1.3 million young people across all 32 local authorities. Police Scotland and their council partners may increase patrols targeting those involved in disorder and criminality. Anyone with information should report this to them.”
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