By Rachelle Money

SCOTTISH justice minister Kenny MacAskill has hit out at Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for refusing to co-host a UK firearms summit and dismissing his calls to review gun legislation.

MacAskill said he would now press ahead with plans for the summit, which has fuelled speculation that he may also put pressure on the UK government to make gun law a devolved matter. He said he was "disappointed" to have Smith reject his invitation and was "concerned" that the home secretary had said a review of the 1968 Firearms Act was not needed now, despite recent figures revealing that Scottish firearms casualties one in three of them children, had increased by 25% in a year.

"If Westminster doesn't feel ready or willing to act, we must press ahead with a national summit as a first positive step in listening to those across the UK who support the case for reform."

MacAskill plans to host the summit in May, producing proposals for stronger legislation and non-legislative action to tackle harm caused by firearms, including air weapons.

He added: "The time has come for a consolidated Firearms Act, making the law clear as well as addressing loopholes and clearing gaps. As part of that reform we need effectively to ban air guns."

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said "a fundamental review of firearms legislation is overdue," but Bill Aitken, Tory justice spokesman, said MacAskill was using Smith's stance to pick a fight with Westminster.

"I know Kenny MacAskill is genuinely concerned, but by getting into turf wars with Westminster we aren't likely to improve the situation," he added.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We will not hesitate to introduce new legislation whenever necessary and have done so on several recent occasions, including banning the sale, manufacture and import of realistic imitation guns, increasing the maximum sentence for carrying an imitation gun to 12 months and raising the age for buying and owning an air weapon to 18.

"These measures and others came into effect only on October 1, 2007, and we need to see what effect they have before contemplating further legislation."