SIR: I am astonished that your newspaper has the cheek to start criticising the Government's ban on hand guns ('Criminals given the last laugh' - October 2)

You now choose to start pointing out that such a policy is going to cost money, yet I didn't see you complaining earlier this year. Then you said: "As we have stated on many occasions, there is no good reason why anybody should need to keep a handgun at home" and "The Government's decision to outlaw all handguns over .22 calibre is the right one".

I hope you, as Bolton's only daily newspaper, do not begin to start playing politics with this issue just because a few gun owners start squealing. Gun owners tend to conveniently forget that every day that their gun is at home there is a risk that it could be found by a burglar and then sold on the blackmarket.

We owe it to the memory of those killed at Hungerford and Dunblane, as well as those killed by guns stolen from homes, to act and show the rest of the world that we will not be dictated to by the Gun Lobby. The vast majority of people do not want guns on their streets, so it is about time gun enthusiasts accepted this and shut up.

P Osborne,

Loxham Street,

Moses Gate, Bolton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.