A NEWSPAPER promotion offering airguns based on real weapons was irresponsible, according to an advertising watchdog.

Adverts in the Daily Sport offered guns, including a "fun" M16 rapid fire machine gun, to phoneline callers.

Advertising Standards Authority says they glamorised offensive weapons and "trivialised a serious social problem".

It adds neither Manchester-based Sport Newspapers nor gun distributors S N Ltd, based near Malpas, Cheshire, showed they could stop the guns going to children.