SIR - In a recent story about the proposed new gun laws, I was surprised to read that Bradford MP Gerry Sutcliffe favoured a complete ban on firearms. I wonder what he hopes that would achieve.

A hundred years ago there were virtually no gun laws at all and hardly any gun crime to speak of. Today we have the most repressive gun laws in the world and yet, as the tabloid press would have us believe, gun crime is on the verge of spiralling out of control. Despite the recent tragedy in Birmingham, I feel this is a slight exaggeration.

Mr Sutcliffe would do well to remember that panic legislation, such as that passed in the wake of Dunblane, rarely makes for good government.

Instead of looking at gun laws, perhaps we should be looking at gun culture as the source of the problem, and in deprived inner-city areas, the issue of gun culture is inseparable from that of gang culture.

A gun on its own cannot kill. It needs someone to pull the trigger, and in any case the majority of these weapons are obviously held illegally so tightening gun laws will have little or no effect on the problem.

Phil Corrigan, Evesham Grove, Bradford 10

SIR - In response to the report in the T&A (January 6) under the heading 'Defaulters blamed for water price rise'.

One wonders what the outcome would be should everyone decide not to pay. Similarly with Council Tax, those who do pay up on time have to make up the shortfall of those who don't pay, and so rises go on.

A few weeks ago Councillor Simon Cooke stated that the Bradford electorate was some 20,000 down. Could it be that many have not filled in their forms to register as electors? Perhaps the missing electorate (those who do not put their names down) still attend various offices to pick up their Giro cheques. They are not missing them.

It would be a big task, but perhaps a check should be made on those drawing benefits and those paying their dues and demands.

N Barwick, Kingston Close, Wilsden.

SIR - Yorkshire Water's propaganda machine is working overtime it seems. Your report (January 6) headed "Defaulters blamed for water price rise" says "Bradford householders... subsidise non-payers."

Early last year the utility told the Yorkshire customers' committee of Ofwat that "debt problems were under control and not an issue for concern" (what a turnabout!).

YW claims that the ban on disconnection has led to non-payment. I say it is the ever-increasing prices to provide shareholders with the assets and means to tax customers for decades to come that is the problem.

Debt levels are even rising in gas and electricity where disconnection is still allowed!

YW appears to have relied heavily on disconnection in the past (adding further court costs to those struggling to pay). It has only recently sought to recover debt by deduction from wages.

Other utilities have higher debt costs, yet absorb these. Not in Yorkshire!

The official "watchdog" sadly will not inform the press of the other side of the story. Waterwatch will try.

John Hall (a director of Waterwatch), Pennithorne Avenue, Shipley.

SIR - Residents in areas being fought over in relation to proposed development have every reason to be concerned when tackling the likes of major construction companies and the Catholic Church.

Major construction companies stand to make an absolute fortune - with not a jot of interest in the welfare and future livelihood of the people who are left to live with their catastrophes.

Is it possible that these companies will build much the same "Wendy Houses" that currently adorn our towns?

Secondly, it is no secret that the Catholic Church is in financial crisis with the costs of litigation they have been subjected to over the past decade or so.

Let battle commence, but we all should bear in mind that the damage once done to our countryside is there forever. There are plenty of "spacious eyesores" already in existence which need re-developing.

Martin Petty, Haworth Road, Bradford.

SIR - The letter from Mubarik Iqbal (January 7) is the most disgraceful I have seen. It goes well beyond the boundary of opinion and debate, as she condones the killing of our allies.

She is fooling nobody by trying to camouflage her hatred of Britain in her rhetoric about America, and this clumsy attempt to distance us from our best friends and allies is easily spotted. The level of her intellect is much lower than she gives herself credit for.

We might just as well print letters from Saddam and Bin Laden, who are her heroes.

Gary Lorriman, Bramblewick, Harden.

SIR - In this world of ageism, sexism, racism and the let's-look-after-No. 1 society, I feel that I must put pen to paper and express my family's utmost gratitude to the doctors, district nurses, home-care nurses, rapid-response team, physiotherapists and the many unnamed people who have seen my parents through a very traumatic three weeks.

Day one of the onset of my parents' illness I contacted the district nurses at Thornton Medical Centre. Kath Brook who attended within 30 minutes of my call, had inside of an hour put into effect a 24-hour nursing regime.

As a family we feel sure that one or both of my parents would not have survived without this army of dedicated individuals who worked all through the Christmas and New Year. Their work is still ongoing and will be for as long as they are needed, and needed they most certainly are.

Never doubt how much you are all appreciated.

Mrs M J Lockwood, Woodcot Avenue, Baildon.

SIR - It appears that it's now Christmas all year round for criminals with a liking for committing burglaries. Not only do we have the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf backing the reasoning that criminals who have committed their first burglary should not go to prison; now we have the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, saying criminals committing their second burglary should not go to jail. Lord Irvine believes the majority of British people agree with his view.

Their main argument is that jails are overcrowded and don't work, and that 72,000 inmates is far too great a number. I say 72,000 inmates out of a population of 58 million people is minuscule and therefore we should increase sentences dramatically and build more prisons. After all, prison is not just a punishment for the criminal. It is a safeguard for the people of this country.

These are two of the highest members of the Criminal Justice System. They are part of the liberal elite that are not in touch with reality. Do they want justice for the criminal, or justice for the people of this country and the rule of law?

Councillor Andrew Smith (Con, Queensbury), Chapel Street, Queensbury.

SIR - We now hear that firms in the Leeds Road area are threatening to leave the city due to the vandalism, theft, poor street lighting and lack of cleanliness.

It was said the Council charges firms £13,000 a week in rates and they don't get any security or better street lighting or cleaner streets.

Surely the Council must appreciate in the light of the job losses the city has suffered in the last year or two (particularly in the textile and engineering industries) it cannot afford to lose more businesses.

There must be more incentives not only to get local people back into work but to attract a lot more new businesses to Bradford.

Martin Palliser, Waincliffe House, Laisterdyke.