London Children Won't Get To See Olympic Shooting Events

In the twisted world of Mayor Boris Johnson, even the mere sight of a gun can drive a youth to a life of crime:

Children will be banned from watching shooting events under Boris Johnson’s Olympic ticket giveaway.

London schoolchildren are eligible for 125,000 Olympic tickets but these will not include any featuring guns, as Games organisers and City Hall fear a backlash from the anti-gun lobby.

Giving children tickets to the events, at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, could have appeared at odds with Mayor Boris Johnson’s bid to quell teenage gun and knife crime.

A source said: “We decided it would not be appropriate. It’s the only sport children will not be able to go to as part of the Ticketshare scheme.”

The youth ban will anger some elements of the British Olympic shooting establishment which already feels marginalised by Games organiser Locog.

Georgina Geikie, 26, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and Olympic pistol hopeful, said she was “horrified”, adding: “This is a chance for children to look at guns in a different way. They are taking away the opportunity for the sport to blossom. How do we educate people that it is a sport if they cannot watch it?”

David Penn, secretary of the British Shooting Sports Council, said: “There is no link between Olympic-level shooting and crime. It’s like saying that a thief would use a Formula One car as a getaway car.”

A few guns in the hands of London shopkeepers might have kept the youths from burning and looting so many businesses a couple of weeks ago.