A YOUNG woman was recently shot in the head by a mugger in the process of stealing her mobile 'phone. Thank goodness she survived. But were we not told by the Home Secretary that the removal of handguns from licensed members of gun clubs would see the end of all gun crimes?

I wonder what apologies and excuses he offers for the fact that gun crime, since the confiscation, has increased by some 46 per cent. These firearms were removed at the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds which could have been better spent in building a number of hospitals, improving the NHS and giving the nurses a decent living wage.

Gun crimes are committed only by owners of illegally and unlawfully held weapons, yet gun club members and their sport were punished arbitrarily. The police are unable to control the rise in gun crime which is rising at an alarming rate, and have no hope of doing so. What a farce and what a waste of money.

A. P. TOBIAS