Gun ownership

Reading the correspondence between Noel Azzopardi, secretary of the Arms, Armour, and Militaria Society, and Mr M. Fitzgibbons, I would like to forward my comments regarding the issue of the arms White Paper, the legislation and use of legal guns in Malta.

Referring to the letter by Mr Fitzgibbons (April19), the statistics as quoted by the police show clearly that the absolute majority of firearms used in crimes are illegal. The same statistics fail to show however what percentage of the very few cases of crimes in which licensed guns were used were in fact committed by licensed persons.

Mr Fitzgibbons seems to be unaware of the present arms ordinance that was enacted under the British rule early in the 1930s. This ordinance gives wide powers of discretion to the commissioner of police, whereby as a result, many collectors have been refused permits to own collectible weapons on `grounds of policy`.

I agree with Mr Fitzgibbons that a public threat is posed by illegal ownership of guns. However, giving an amnesty in an attempt to collect these guns is not the remedy, since no criminal would hand over the tools of his trade. The real purpose of an amnesty should be to regularise the possession of guns by bona fide gun owners prior to the enactment of a new, fair and just law.

The UK example is one which should not be followed by any other country. This was a mistake and one should learn from it. The use of guns in crime in the UK skyrocketed after the banning of most of the legally-owned guns in an attempt to control crime. This mistake has been admitted by the British Home Office but the politicians wouldn`t listen!

The deployment of stop-and-search procedures by the police and the arming of the simple `bobby` is proof that armed crime has soared since the banning came into force.

The new arms bill should be reasonable to allow for all types of target shooting disciplines and allow gun collectors to continue in the pursuit of their hobby. This, however, will entail a serious revision of the current White Paper for such a bill, as these issues are truly not being considered. The White Paper as it is promises a lot but delivers nothing. Finally I must show my support for the Arms, Armour and Militaria Society and other organisations within the Malta Gun Owners Lobby and I hope that their suggestions will be taken into consideration in the revision of the White Paper.