Guns are not toys

I shall be very interested to see how many people in Malta are for or against the idea of flooding Malta with guns. Some time ago I seem to remember reading that there were 60,000 people holding gun licences for shooting birds. Did I get that figure right? Anyway, I was amazed at whatever figure was given, because I know for a fact that the figure I read was only a tiny proportion of the number of hunting guns that exist on these islands.

Time and again hunters in Gozo have admitted to me that the gun they were holding were only one of half a dozen and more in their homes and, even if they were exaggerating, the number of guns held privately in Gozo alone is enormous.

As for teaching 12-year-old children to use guns of any kind, this is one of the craziest things I have seen proposed in Malta during the 37 years I have lived here. It takes very stable, sensible persons to hold a gun in their hands and resist pulling that trigger.

I may be one of your helpless old dodderers but nothing, nothing at all would persuade me to keep a gun in my home. This is not because I would be unable to use it but rather the opposite.

As a child I copied my two older brothers and learned to shoot straight and in the army I learned to clean and use a rifle and I was always a good shot. What I learned most importantly is that guns are not toys to trifle with and the fewer guns available, the safer is the world in which we live.