A GUN shop owner has claimed crooks are stealing weapons from his premises because he has been banned from putting up security shutters

Frank Kay has spoken out in the wake of the nation-wide call for tighter laws to control the use of firearms, which followed the Dunblane massacre.

On Monday afternoon, thieves smashed the front window of his shop and made off with two air pistols while he was seeing his daughter off on holiday.

He said: "Here is Jack Straw campaigning for strict controls on guns and his own local council won't let me protect my shop."

Frank's Framar Hammerli UK gun shop in King Street, Blackburn, is protected by wire mesh over the windows.

But he cannot put up external security shutters because the building is in a conservation area.

He said: "I think I saw the people who did it in the shop earlier the same day.

"They looked like they were sizing up the guns to see which looked most realistic.

"It seemed to me that they were just looking to see what they could rob a Post Office with, so I refused to serve them.

"But it seems they just waited for me to leave and stole the stuff instead."

Frank said he was going to put up thicker wire mesh after the theft.

"I have been here for 12 years and don't want to relocate. I have been told that it would be a nightmare to try to fit internal shutters.

"I don't want the stuff in here falling into the wrong hands and, at the end of the day, after Dunblane, you would think I would be allowed to protect it.

A spokesman for Blackburn Council said: "Highly visible security measures are not appropriate in conservation areas but that does not mean people have to compromise the security of their property.

"Planning permission is required for external shutters in conservation areas and it is highly unlikely that they would be allowed.

"But there are other types of security measures which can be introduced.

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