A LOCAL pistol shooter has written to Tory leader William Hague urging him to demand an independent inquiry into the Government's ban on handguns.

Mr Jim Hayward, 67, fears that the way in which the handover of guns has been drawn up by the Home Office leaves the way open for the Government to cash in by selling the firearms abroad.

Mr Hayward, of Radcliffe, is horrified by the prospect of handguns being used to kill in foreign countries.

In the letter he said: "The rules say the guns will be disposed of at the discretion of the Secretary of State. Surely, this should read 'will be destroyed on the orders of the Secretary of State'."

Mr Hayward has been involved in the sport for four years.

He added: "The cost of administering the new laws and the payment of compensation to the owners of confiscated guns will add up to a large amount of money.

"Some of the things the Labour Government have done indicate they have severe financial problems.

"In these circumstances there will be a temptation to recoup some of the taxpayers' money by selling some of the guns."

The letter added: "Since pressure groups, the media and politicians have all stated that the handgun ban is solely in the interests of public safety, I am sure you must agree that if only one of the weapons survived to maim or kill any human being anywhere in the world it would be morally offensive, not only to the people who fought for the handgun ban but also to the 'shooters' who only used the guns for target shooting."

The retired contracts manager now wants an independent committee formed to monitor destruction of the weapons, which all have to be surrendered by the end of September under the 1997 Firearms Amendment Act. He has also written to Bury South MP Ivan Lewis expressing his concerns.

"I'll only be happy once I have an assurance from the Government that these guns will be destroyed: an assurance which seems difficult to obtain at the moment," Mr Hayward said this week.

"The Government didn't take a blind bit of notice of the Cullen Report on firearms and I don't believe it will miss an opportunity to financially gain from the surrender of handguns."

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