Shotgun licences are being issued to children as young as 10 by Avon and Somerset police.
The youngest person to be issued a shotgun licence in the area last year was a 10-year-old girl, while the oldest was an 82-year-old man.
The previous year, a 10-year-old boy and an 84-year-old woman were the youngest and oldest people in Avon and Somerset to be granted a licence to own and use a shotgun.
There are no legal age restrictions on who can hold a shotgun licence.
Licences are granted to people assessed by the police as not posing a threat to public safety and having
good reason to own the firearm.
Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice Damian Green says in a new Guide on Firearms Licensing Law, published this month: "The vast majority of [firearms] licence holders will
quite legitimately and responsibly use their firearms for work and leisure pursuits.
"It is only in an extremely small minority of cases that legally held firearms are misused.
"Firearms control in the UK is among the toughest in the world."
The number of young people granted a shotgun licence in Avon and Somerset has remained fairly steady over the past few years, as has the total number of shotgun licences granted.
Forty-eight people under the age of 18 were granted a licence in the year ending 31 March.
About 800 new shotgun licences were granted, giving a total of just over 21,000 licences on issue that year.
Twenty-nine applications for a shotgun licence were refused and 66 existing licences were revoked.
A spokesman for the Avon and Somerset Constabulary says there has been no recent shotgun-related crime in the Bath area.
