SIR: Councillor Foster is delighted with the new Gun Law - so be it, his son was murdered by a thug with a gun, who was anxious to escape. To people in this category the law means nothing and, if they need a gun in the pursuance of crime, they will buy one. Apparently, they are sold for around £70 in the sleazy areas of Manchester, so the law is cancelled out by this market.

On the other hand, the posters announced that the A & E Department of the local hospital is concerned about funds - money necessary to save life. This Labour-controlled government preferred to spend some £130,000 to appease the Gun Lobby and gain votes on May 1, but leave the hospitals to struggle for cash. There are more lives in peril in hospitals underfunded (and badly administered) than there are at the point of a gun. Two incidents - Hungerford and Dunblane - were the outcome of guns handled by madmen, but some criminals are on the prowl every day with guns in hand and will ignore the law - the gain is worth the risk to them.

Dorothy B Waters

Winifred Road, Farnworth

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