Dear Baxxter
Owing to your respected input on this blog I appreciate the clarification you have given on this topic, thus shutting up the ignorance of those who are so misinformed and biased against firearms.

This ignorance includes those here who I used to believe were well educated on any subject, especially if they carried letters behind their names. Dear Baxxter, may we one day meet (probably we already do) on the shooting range or at any of the clubs’ activities. Safe shooting.

‘Weapons’ could be anything from your nylon tights to your kitchen knife.

We civilised gun-owners call them ‘firearms’.

Calm down, lads. I’m on your side, jbondin.

Sports shooters are some of the most level-headed, safety-conscious and disciplined people I have ever met. They are the anti-kaccaturi par excellence. And the anti-injoranza too. Some of them load their own cartridges. This is not some murtali-ejja-ha-mmorru hobby. It requires exact knowledge and a lot of science.

In order to get a firearms licence for a pistol, the background checks are more stringent than even the entry requirements for the Police Corps (we’ve all seen those). There are psychological checks. Even an unguarded comment on a blog can get you disqualified. It’s not just the criminals who are filtered out, but the loonies too.

As for airsoft, the big attraction there is the kit and the crawling about in the mud rather than the weapons.

Malta doesn’t have a ‘gun culture’ problem in the way that the US does. The only gun culture we’ve got is the confounded namra tal-kaccaturi.

@Francis Saliba M.D.

even kitchen knives, rolling pins and other kitchen utensils can have been known to kill and harm others when criminal intent is present. We have all seen reports of police finding household chemicals and cleaners to make crude bombs when criminal intent is present….should we ban these…..we have also seen how some mix fireworks in their garages with their neighbours unaware until its too late….should we ban these also?

…and how in your infinite wisdom on the subject….when criminal intent is present does a carbine differ from a shotgun…would you ban licensed sport shooters from having these also?

William Chetcuti and Nathan Xuereb have brought back honors from abroad representing the country as sport shooters….true, they do not shoot carbines, but we do have shooters shooting in competitions abroad in various other disciplines …but unfortunately we dont hear about these as much as other sports in this country.

Sport shooters undergo extensive scrutiny before being issued a license…and unless you have said license you are unable to purchase such a firearm.

NEVER….EVER….has their been an incident concerning a sport shooter….we love our sport and adhere strictly to the regulations stipulated by law because it is in our personal interest that our sport is not compromised.

It is extremely unfortunate that because of this hunting issue, sport shooters are being put into the same pot and looked upon in bad light due to the fact that we own firearems…There is a lot of misinformation on the subject and the shooting community would like to straighten this out…which is why there are a lot of comments below here which try yo separate the hunting issue from sport shooting and gun ownership….We are passionate about our sport and dont want it seen in a bad light as being done

No

When you do another ridiculous flop you can take out the “You morons, I was doing a social experiment!” card.

[Daphne – Dear Roger, you have no idea what I know and don’t know. Did you have any idea that I learned how to use an airgun in childhood? Well, then. People think of me as public property and assume they know me because of the direct style in which I write. In reality, I give away next to nothing. I remember when, years ago, you told me that you had a son in Australia of roughly my age, I was completely taken aback. I’d always had you down as some kind of bachelor when I knew you at The Times. So you see, people are full of surprises. I trust you are enjoying yourself at Malta Today, though in your position I would be enjoying my retirement instead of trying to die in the saddle.]

Once a member of the public is in possession of this type of weapon at home it is out of any reasonable control.

Any “sportsman” with a criminal intent would not respect the restrictions and the controls.

The weapons should NEVER be kept outside a secure sport shooting range under lock and key by a responsible person and under police surveillance.

“Carbines” are not kitchen knives that have a legitimate use in the house. They are pure and simple killing machines. Even imitation weapons are used by criminals in hold ups.

what is frightful is how you comment on such things when it is soooo obvious how misinformed you are on the subject….all it would have taken you for some decent information is to scroll down through the comments and read what some have posted (trying to inform the public the difference between hunting and sport shooting….and the fact that it is illegal in malta to own an automatic firearm…because it looks like military hardware doesnt mean it functions like one!!

educate yourself on the matter before you comment….hunting and sport shooting are not the same thing…but uneducated persons (on the subject) such as yourself put them in the same pot ….it is unfair and a pretext for another petition to referendum against owing firearms affecting the minority group of sport shooters

Total BS Mr Wilson. Stick to Woman’s Weekly.