7th August 2011

I've always hated guns, coming from a town like Birmingham famous for manufacturing them. I'm alarmed by the general unconcern of ordinary people to having a gun at home.  In France it's perfectly acceptable for private citizens to own a handgun.
Yesterday Bruno, our pet spaniel (who happens to be a gun dog) managed to shimmy over our normally adequate fence and attacked one of our neighbour's free-range chickens. We immediately went next door, full of apologies and explanations, offering to pay for a new chicken, but to no avail. We were met not only with alarming hostility but with the threat of using a gun!
In France, a kill is not seen as a function of a gun that has somehow run amok, but a problem of the inadequate detection and treatment of madness. And with livestock, the law always sides with the farmer. But we live in a town. This wasn't a farmer, but an ordinary citizen. Officially, persons treated for established mental illness are ineligible for gun ownership, but what about testosterone-driven rages when the rational flies out the window?
So, Bruno must now be kept on a lead at all times. For goodness sake, get rid of all guns.

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