A MOTHER whose young son died in a tragic shooting accident is backing North Wales Police's gun amnesty.
Jayne Atkinson, a nurse at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, is also set to appear in an educational video warning youngsters about the dangers of firearms.
The campaigning mum from Pontblyddyn and her husband John lost their 13-year-old son George in a shooting accident during 1999.
Ever since, they have been campaigning tirelessly for much tougher controls on air guns.
North Wales Police has just launched Operation Target, which has two aims - to raise awareness of a change in the law which makes it an offence to possess a gas cartridge air weapon without a full firearms certificate and also to urge owners who have not applied for a certificate to hand their guns into the police so they don't fall foul of the law.
Jayne said while she backed the initiative, she would also continue to press for new air gun legislation, adding: 'I want the Government to make everyone who buys an air gun legally responsible for registering the weapon.
'They should also be compelled to keep it locked up, away from children.
'Air guns are not toys, they are lethal weapons. They must be locked up in the house so youngsters can't get their hands on them.
'Kids will be kids - they will be curious if they see an air gun lying around.
'People must be educated and learn how lethal these guns are.
'I know what it's like to lose a child in an air gun accident.
'It happened to me, so I know the pain it causes. Many can't believe George was killed by a pellet which lodged in his head.
'They usually say, 'I never realised that kind of thing could happen.'
She added: 'I know I'm a lone voice in North Wales, but I fully intend to carry on with the campaign until the law is toughened.'
Jayne is to be featured in a new video to be made in the summer. It highlights the dangers of guns to schoolchildren.
She hopes the high-profile project, to be launched later in the year by Home Secretary David Blunkett, will raise awareness.
She said: 'Hopefully we will get the message across to children that guns are not toys.
'There seems to be a wall of ignorance, people seem to believe they are toys that people used to play with 30 years ago and they can do so now as well.'
Recently she joined other mothers to present a petition in Downing Street, organised by the Mothers Against Hand Guns group, calling for a total ban on replica firearms.
