An 11-year-old boy has been arrested after taking a gun on his school bus and pointing it at another student on the way home, according to education officials in Alabama.

Martha Peek, the schools superintendent in Mobile, said two pupils were involved in the incident and had been suspended from school.

Two sets of parents are planning to press charges.

Ashley Edmond, a mother of one of the pupils, told Fox 10 News: “He felt something touch the back of his head and he thought it was scissors to cut his hair. Come to find out it was a revolver to the back of his head.

She added that he did not want to take the bus again.

"He was terrified - shaking and screaming at me saying ‘I will never get back on the bus again! I will never get back on the bus’ like he was terrified and in shock,” she said. "My 11-year-old had a gun to his head and what if there would've been bullets in it?”

Local news organisations reported that the gun was brought in by a brother and sister who took it from their grandfather.

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Witness said the pupils were playing around with the gun, spinning the chamber and pulling the trigger.

Ms Peek said they checked the gun was unloaded but added: “The students began horse playing with it.”

One pupil has been charged with menacing.

"We're taking that very seriously," added Ms Peek.

"Anytime something like this happens, we want to make sure safety and security is first and use it as a lesson to say we all need to be vigilant about handguns and all types of weapons."

Barack Obama has described his inability to tackle America's gun problem as the biggest frustration of his time in office.