Act of a madman
Sir: The Spectator's memory is playing tricks. You say (Leader, 6 May) that Mr Hogg and I failed after Hungerford to make the point that you could not legislate against the isolated act of a madman. Not so. I have found five occasions when we made precisely that point. For example on second reading of the Firearms Bill (26 October 1987) I said:
There is no point in pretending that by making changes in the law we could guaran- tee the safety of the public against the quiet, withdrawn citizen who answers every ques- tion, fills in every form and keeps every law until the moment comes when he commits an atrocious crime. We cannot give Hungerford an absolute guarantee against Ryan.
But, having volunteered that, we were clear that there was need to stiffen the law and shift somewhat the balance between public safety and the right of individual shooters. I am glad that Parliament agreed and that we now have the 1988 Act. As you have noted, we see no reason to go beyond the balance there struck.
Douglas Hurd
House of Commons, London SW1
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