No justifying death of birds

SIR - Regarding 'Birds are in the firing line' (Comet February 15); I read a recent letter from an A Collins of Hitchin and the subsequent response last week by Elizabeth Saxon of Stotfold.

In her letter she tried to justify the completely random and wanton shooting of a magpie and a seagull as "altruistic to other birds". Her logic defies comprehension because if we were to continue her line of argument we would shoot sea eagles, golden eagles, buzzards, hawks and indeed our common sparrow, who can also be very aggressive to other birds. Is this what Elizabeth Saxon is suggesting or has she not thought out her argument or perhaps the more cynical amongst us may think that she has an ulterior motive and is part of the shooting set.

When you read the letter from A Collins of Hitchin the point he is making is, should a visually impaired person be allowed to hold a firearms certificate and fire a shot willy nilly, killing anything which gets in his way?

It is extremely pertinent in today's atmosphere, and in view of the recent spate of shootings in south London, that guns are very dangerous. History should have taught us a lesson, like the people of Hungerford and Dunblane, that even when licensed, guns can still be very dangerous and even fatal when in the hands of a registered firearm user, whether he is visually impaired or mentally impaired.

So come on, Elizabeth Saxon, far from A Collis having a one-sided view as suggested in your letter, I would suggest that you read the letter again and open your eyes and try not to be so biased

P THOMAS

Canterbury Way

Stevenage