IT is not guns and knives that maim or kill people, it is the calibre of the person who uses them.

Where violence is used as a means to an end, we all have the means of obtaining weapons, be it on the black market or the kitchen drawer.

After all, it is the attitude of the individual in a changing society and a proportion of blame must rest with television, video and media access in general, which magnifies to all and sundry violence in all its gory detail, to the general public, irrespective of age.

Gone are the days of cowboys and Indians in role play. Now we have real weapons being used and people prepared to use them.

Respective governments can legislate as much as they like, but it is the mentality and attitude of generations over the years that change, not the individual.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.