TWO men who were firing a gun in a park popular with young children have had their weapon seized.

The pair were confronted by parks police in Elmhurst Gardens, off Gordon Road, South Woodford, and their air rifle was confiscated.

Officers swooped at around 6pm last Sunday evening amid fears that children playing in the area could be injured by a stray pellet.

Leslie Lant, secretary of the Friends of Elmhurst Gardens community group, told the Guardian she spied the pair from her window but did not believe there was any immediate danger.

She said: “I've been shot in the bum before by an air rifle and it smarts, I can tell you.

“But I think that they had chosen a time of day that was not busy.

“If they were teens then I definitely would have called it in as I think they would have shot at the can for five minutes and then got bored and tried a moving target like a bird or something.

“They were in their late 20s and looked fairly respectable and like they were doing a bit of target practice rather than out causing mischief.”

More than 8,000 airgun offences were committed in Great Britain in 2007/08, amounting to almost half of all firearm crime.

A spokesman for Gun Control Network called for stronger legislation on air rifle ownership.

He said: “Airguns kill and injure and are responsible for more than a quarter of all gun injuries, including a fifth of serious injuries, including two fatal shootings and two suicides in 2008.

“It is time for them to be subject to the same legislation as other firearms, and a registration system is long overdue. Only then will the right message be sent out that these are dangerous weapons.”

Elmhurst Gardens has recently been awarded 'green flag status' by the Keep Britain Tidy group for its "excellent" facilities and topography.

A Redbridge Council spokeswoman said: “Residents are reminded that it is an offence contrary to section 19 of the Firearms Act to have an air rifle in a public place, regardless of whether it is loaded, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

“The offence, relating to standard air weapons, is punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a maximum fine of £5000, or both.”