Town councillors and police are calling on Keighley shopkeepers to stop selling BB guns to children.

Youngsters are using the pellet-firing guns in games of "army" in areas such as Parkwood Rise.

One 10-year-old boy was allegedly left with three scars after being shot in the back on Saturday evening.

The realistic-looking firearms are not covered by laws governing air guns and can be sold legally to children, although the boxes warn "This is not a toy". Firing the guns is also legal but users face prosecution if they cause injury or use them during criminal acts.

Keighley Town Council is writing to shopkeepers asking them to exercise caution when selling the guns. It is reacting to concerns of several councillors about an upsurge in the guns' use by children and teenagers.

The latest incident was last Saturday when a group of children at Parkwood Rise, aged between nine and 12, ran around firing the guns at each other.

Resident Mary Lister said her 10-year-old grandson was playing nearby when three pellets hit his back. She said: "He had three blisters on his back -- it's left little scars.

"I don't think kids should be allowed to run around the streets with these guns. Shops shouldn't be selling them to children that age."

Town Councillor Rose Thompson, who lives at Parkwood Rise, has seen several children playing with guns near the flats.

She said: "One child gets a gun so everyone gets them. With the holidays coming up I think there'll be a lot of accidents here."

The town council's watch committee is leading the campaign against what its chairman Cllr Graham Mitchell terms "rather objectionable pieces of kit".

Cllr Mitchell added: "We're asking the town clerk to write to the relevant shopkeepers asking them to exercise caution against every possible misuse."

The town council's efforts are being supported by Insp Nigel Cawthorne, of the police's Problem Oriented Policing team

He said: "Unfortunately, these guns are legal to sell. Obviously we would expect retailers to be responsible and not sell them to youngsters.

"The guns can cause injury and if they do, that is an offence. It's an offence if they are used inappropriately and this is likely if they're children.

"It can be classed as an imitation firearm so if it's used in any criminal purpose, it falls within the law."

Insp Cawthorne warned that members of the public might call police, mistakenly believing BB gun-users were carrying real firearms.

He said: "We do have incidents where armed response units have been deployed. There's always a possibility."