Armed police were dispatched to deal with a man firing a gun in public.

A team of officers was sent to Slinfold Close, Brighton on Monday afternoon after reports of a man firing an air rifle.

It was the fourth call Brighton and Hove Police had about firearms in three days.

Unarmed officers were sent to deal with the others, which included teenage boys with a ball-bearing (BB) gun and a man firing at birds, on Saturday and Sunday.

Sussex Police said last night misusing BB guns and imitation firearms can cause panic and endanger lives.

The warning comes just weeks after two firearm incidents in Worthing and Bexhill, where a man had to be subdued with a 50,000-volt Taser stun gun.

Sue Heard, a spokeswoman for Sussex Police, said it was vital that adults and children realised the dangers of playing with fake guns.

She said: "These weapons are manufactured in such a way that even our trained police firearms officers cannot always tell them apart from the real thing.

"This means that anyone carrying, or worse using, one of these weapons in public may find the police have been called and may even find themselves confronted by armed police officers. This is something we obviously do not want to happen as it increases the risks for all involved."

The first call at the weekend was on Saturday at 1.30pm, when nervous members of the public reported seeing three teenage boys playing with an imitation firearm as they walked down Preston Drove, Brighton.

Police immediately conducted an area search but there was no trace of the youths. At 4.30pm a member of public flagged down a patrol car in Barnett Road, Hollingdean reporting that a group of youths had been seen with a gun.

Police stopped the group, believed to be the same group from earlier in the day, and recovered a BB gun.

The following day at 8.10pm there were reports of shots being fired at birds from an address in Station Road, Portslade. Police are carrying out inquiries.

On Monday at 1.15pm police received reports that a man on waste ground near Slinfold Close, Brighton, was firing an air rifle.

The man was gone when officers arrived but they found he had been firing pellets at glass bottles.

Ms Heard said: "Members of public were extremely perturbed by these sightings and immediately feared for their own safety. The police stress that these guns are not toys.

"All soft airguns without exception are imitation firearms under the Firearms Act 1968. That means that anyone found in possession of a BB gun in a public place is likely to find themselves being arrested and could be subject to a fine of £5,000, six months imprisonment or both. If a pellet strikes someone it is common assault."

She called for parents to speak to any child who has such a weapon or who has access to one to ensure they are aware of the law and understand the consequences of misuse.

She added: "BB guns must not be carried on show in public, or be used in public."

The Argus revealed last month as part of the Crime in the Community series that, before intervention by community leaders, youngsters in Whitehawk had hit on a way of making BB guns deadly by swapping plastic pellets for ball bearings.

We also revealed that pupils of Falmer School in Brighton had been suspended for taking part in a BB gun racket where guns were being sold in the classroom.

On Saturday, March 17 a man was arrested in Cotswold Road, Durrington on suspicion of possessing a firearm. The same day, officers used a stun gun on a man in Sidley Recreation Ground, Canada Way, Bexhill following reports that a driver had been threatened with a gun in Buxton Drive.