From John Ewing
The second picture in your article on Americans and firearms supposedly shows two adults and two boys, the elder of whom is sighting along a rifle (25 December 2004, p 4). This leads Martin Chance to a number of caustic observations about parental responsibility and the general slapdash manner in which those evil Americans observe the rules of firearms safety (22 January, p 26).
A closer observation of the picture will reveal that the boy who is holding the rifle has long, varnished fingernails and a handbag hanging from a strap over his shoulder. Add to this the mascaraed eyelashes and the crop top and you realise that in fact this is no boy – it’s probably the “other” child’s mother, shopping for a cannon with which to protect her offspring from rabid firearms abolitionists.
Preuschdorf, France
