Letter: After Dunblane: questions for the media and an answer to critic s of gun clubs

Letter: After Dunblane: questions for the media and an answer to critics of gun clubs

Sir: Perhaps, before condemning the shooting sports, people should attend a match, and see what shooting is really about. They will see none of the likes of Thomas Hamilton, just ordinary citizens having an enjoyable day out. One of the first things they will observe is the strict safety rules, and the responsibility and care every shooter displays to those around him or her.

Shooting is one of the least aggressive sports. It does not promote the use of physical force towards any person. Men and women can compete on equal terms, and people have been known to continue competing well into their seventies.

Shooting teaches children attentiveness, and respect for rules and other people. An 18th-century Swiss writer described shooting events as "a school of morals for the young".

What happened at Dunblane was tragic, but in a society where people are presumed innocent, there will always be some dangerous individuals on the streets. In our helplessness, we try to alleviate our desperation by looking for someone or something to blame. That is all gun control will ever be.

Philip Cook

Thornton Heath, Surre