I've nothing against Lee Holmes you understand, I struggle to recall meeting a more articulate and well mannered footballer and I've been interviewing them for a while now.

The problem was while Lee was talking, out of the corner of my eye I could see a man had just pulled a gun on one of the photographers and was pointing it square at his head.

This was in fact the launch of the new police initiative 'Gunsafe' aimed at reducing the number of imitation firearms and ball bearing guns on the streets of Derbyshire.

Lee and I were surrounded by the armed response team, trading standards officers, press personnel and other journalists, all the weapons were imitation and incapable of firing live rounds and the man pointing the weapon at the photographer was a police officer himself setting up a picture. Yet the sight of him standing there with a steely glare in his eyes was unnerving.

Here lies the problem.

Armed response teams often have just a split second to decide whether somebody is carrying a real weapon, or an imitation one. With the fakes looking more and more like the real deal these days anybody carrying them is taking a huge risk with their own life.

A third of all calls received by the armed response unit relate to people carrying fake or ball bearing guns.

Graham Morgan from Trading Standards said: "It is legal to sell these imitation weapons, but not to display or carry them in public so really there's no legitimate reason to go out and buy one.

"Our lives would be a lot easier if they weren't sold. We're asking retailers to be responsible – yes it's legal to sell these things but they're dangerous. The police only get a split second to decide whether to shoot or not."

Sergeant Nick Allgood from the armed response team said: "There have been incidents where lads have been out drinking and decided to play a prank with a ball bearing gun and they've ended up going to prison.

"The weapon may be harmless but it's all about what other people perceive."

Gunsafe aims to get traders and hosters of car boot sales and markets signed up to voluntary code of conduct that sees them withdraw imitation and BB guns from sale and commit to not stocking them in the future.

Many people are unaware of the laws regarding these fake weapons, particularly parents who buy ball bearing guns for their children. Display them in public and you could be arrested or worse.

That's where Lee Holmes comes in – somebody the young people of Derbyshire can identify with and look up to.

He said: "Hopefully I can help bring this to the attention of other young people in the area.

"I'm from this part of the world and it's good to try and give something back when you can.

"Young people need to know that it's not a good thing carrying these things around with them.