Dear Sir/Madam,

Stuart Devereaux’s remarks in today’s Feedback section about the rise in “gun culture” actually being a rise in “black gun culture” reminded me of a – admittedly somewhat racist – joke I heard many years ago, when virtually all Brits were fair-skinned and the term “political correctness” was unknown:

Question: What do you call a black man with a submachine gun?

Answer: Sir!

As human beings, we all need - and crave for, if we do not have it - a sense of belonging to a community in which we feel valued and respected.

While a mature person only wants to be respected for the “right” reasons, an immature person just wants to be respected, period; in extreme cases even if he has to carry a gun to get it.

A gun – and the readiness to use it – is a very effective way of getting people’s respect, is it not?

No. That’s confusing “respect” with “fear”, which is exactly what the immature person does.

The solution to the problem – in fact, to most of our problems – is to create a society in which there are far more opportunities for people to earn the respect they need for the “right” reasons.

Mr Devereaux’s concluding remark that a mother who can tolerate membership of her son in “this type of gang” is worthy of little sympathy for any subsequent loss, I found very heartless. What mother has any choice but to tolerate what her sons and daughters get up to?

Sacrificial bull?, 10 January 2003