SIR - You quote President Bush as calling yesterday's shooting by a 15-year-old pupil at Santana High School in California a "disgraceful act of cowardice" [Two killed and 13 wounded by teenager in school gun rampage, 6 March 2001]

 The real culprits and cowards are not any of America's kids, but the millions of adult Americans who, like Mr Bush himself, refuse to face up to their country's puerile gun culture and powerful gun lobby.