Gun control: the need for rational debate: Letter

Sir: It is a non sequitur to suggest, as Richard Balmer does (Letters, 2 August), that a ban on gun ownership is wrong because cars, kitchen knives and axes could also be banned using the same thinking. Although the latter three can all be misused, their main functions are travel, onion-chopping and tree-felling, respectively. The sole purpose of a gun, however, is to fire a bullet (whether in sport or in anger), something that need not, and should not, be integral to any citizen's life. If a minority of people need to find a new hobby, then so be it.

AMOS MILLER

London W12