POLICE are launching a blitz on youngsters who use air rifles.

The project is being organized by the Pennine Armed Response Unit and will visit schools in Burnley, the Rossendale Valley, Nelson and Colne to warn children on the dangers.

PC Dave Pascoe said: "There has been an increase in the number of incidents regarding air weapons, so we decided to put a presentation together and visit schools."

"Apart from being highly dangerous in their own right, air weapons present officers from the Armed Response Unit with another, more serious problem.

"When someone sees a 15 or 16 year old carrying a weapon, they can be mistaken for an adult. We have to respond and deal with it.

"When we arrive it is very hard, from a distance, to asses the type of weapon -- be it an air gun, replica, real gun or a blank firer -- and the age of the person.

"That could result in someone being shot."

There have been several incidents in East Lancashire recently where youngsters are thought to have used rifles, including a sniper taking pot shots at a bus in Bacup.

The project will start visiting schools in September and a high profile poster campaign is already under way.