I endorse Edwin Vella's plea for the urgent establishment of a national shooting range (Shooters Need National Shooting Range, May 24). My colleague stated his case as public relations officer of the Malta Shooting Sport Federation based in Bidnija.

Now that we have what is possibly one of the most sensible, sports-oriented arms laws in the EU, and especially since the recent amendments to the EU Arms Directive guarantee the validity of our law in the foreseeable future, the fruit is now ripe for the picking. In simple terms, Malta has the potential to exploit its location, climate, attractions and the law to attract sports tourism and generate income while at the same time providing Maltese sports shooters with the facilities which they deserve.

The one factor that is still missing but which is surely within our collective grasp is a national shooting range complex. However, I disagree with Mr Vella when he limits his vision of a national range to "shooting disciplines under the International Shooting Sport Federation that the Malta Shooting Sport Federation is affiliated with".

The ISSF covers shooting disciplines which enjoy IOC (International Olympic Committee recognition. However there exist other shooting disciplines which enjoy a stronger popular following worldwide and some of these are already represented in Malta by other shooting bodies (e.g. IMSSU, IDPA and particularly IPSC on behalf of which I write here).

A truly national range complex, built on government land out of public funds, has to take all local organisations into consideration. Moreover, for the project to be sustainable, the complex should be purposely constructed to accommodate all represented disciplines and ensure that Malta offers the widest possible facilities to local and foreign shooters. Having dedicated years of work, both locally and internationally, to get us where we are now, I am fully committed to seeing this project through and making Malta a centre of sports shooting in the Mediterranean.

I am not taking Mr Vella to task for promoting his organisation's views. On the contrary, this is an invitation to MSSF (and other shooting bodies) to do away with artificial barriers hindering our progress and to come together to form a truly national federation or council which together with the government would find the right formula to lay the foundation stone of a national sports shooting complex as quickly as possible.