A PETITION containing 700,000 signatures has been submitted to Parliament, calling for a ban on the private ownership of pistols.

While such a petition was inevitable following the terrible incident at Dunblane, the small size of the petition in relation to the population, must have been a disappointment to its organisers.

It appears that, despite the propaganda printed in tabloid and other newspapers, and the comments of ill-informed politicians, less than 1.4 per cent of the population has signed the petition.

Apparently, almost 99 per cent of the population appreciates that a total ban on the legal ownership of pistols is both inappropriate and unfair, and that the present strict legislation (when implemented), is generally effective.

I'm sure that a petition condemning Jack Straw and his greedy Parliamentary colleagues for voting in favour of their proposed pay rise would gain far more support.

Mr Straw, a senior member of the Labour party, has shown utter contempt to his constituents and disloyalty to his party leader. Any honourable senior party member would surely have supported Tony Blair in this matter.

If the party cannot rely on Mr Straw, why should his constituents trust him?

LOCAL gun collector (name and address supplied).

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