The "dead hand of the Scotland Office" was yesterday blamed for a decision by UK ministers to block any attempt north of the border to bring in legislation to ban airguns.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the veto left Labour's approach to devolution "threadbare and confused". The minister said his Westminster counterpart Jack Straw had given sympathetic consideration at a meeting in July to the possibility of Scotland going it alone in toughening the firearms regulations.
But now the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has vetoed this, claiming that any variation of the laws between Scotland and England would be "confusing and potentially damaging".
Mr MacAskill said yesterday: "I am extremely disappointed that the Westminster Government has not recognised that Scotland needs responsibility for firearms legislation to deal with this extremely serious problem in Scotland, particularly air weapon crime.
How the Scots decide to protect their communities and people must be a matter for the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament as indeed it should be in Wales a matter for the Welsh Government and Senedd. Yet the British are prepared to use their veto and stop the ban, leaving communities and people at risk.
A 17-year-old Newport boy has died after an incident involving an air rifle, police said today. A spokesman said: "The investigation is still in its early stages in terms of finding out what has happened. "The 17-year-old male sustained injuries as a result of the incident, which led to his death. We are now in the process of investigating exactly what the circumstances were.