Once again criminal elements using firearms that are already illegal or highly restricted in Australia have committed yet another drive by shooting.

One of the first things to come to the forefront of suggestions in preventing this is to look at further restrictions of lawful firearm ownership.

It's pretty safe to say that the already excessive gun laws in the ACT are failing (embarrassingly so) to keep our community safe.

With a new round of gun control measures only recently being introduced, including the reclassification of 120-year-old technology and imposition of new restrictions on lever action shotguns and a new gun amnesty that has clearly not been taken up or taken seriously by criminals, I find it impossible to see how any new restriction on firearms could possibly make any difference, at least not to criminals anyway.

Law-abiding firearm owners will once again bear the brunt of the political need to be seen to be doing something, rather than making the difference that is needed.

Perhaps our law makers and law keepers need to re-read the headline of the article "Feuding bikies responsible for shootings" (July 18, p2) for a bit of direction on who to target.

Shane Bennett, ACT Representative, Firearm Owners United, Canberra

The ACT Revenue Office has kindly made available an on line a rates calculator to assist ratepayers to calculate their rates bills for the current and five previous years. A step in the right direction? Absolutely.

However, instead of including the current UCV ratepayers need to input theirs. The current year's is not available online and prior years are not accessible online. A simple input of one's unit, block and section numbers should bring up these figures automatically.

Furthermore, the new method of calculating rates for unit owners is not catered for.

The net result of the current "rates calculator" is that the rates increases over the past six years in almost all cases would be understated, and in many cases substantially understated.

Transparency, and accuracy, in providing accurate information to ratepayers is the least ratepayers expect for their ever-increasing rates bills. The ACT Revenue Office reputation needs to be kept at its usual high standard.

Peter Jansen, Ratepayers Association of the ACT Inc., Deakin

The disturbing data on incidents in ACT schools ("Teachers' $6m compo bill", July 20, p1) require further detail so we can understand how members (children and parents) of a well educated and comparatively affluent community come to behave this way.

Are the incidents clustered in specific suburbs, in specific schools or reflective of other known clusters of anti-social behaviours?

Do the assaults on teacher support staff reflect inadequate staff levels to manage young people with known behavioural challenges?

Is it reflective of a need for better staff training?

It is reasonable to ask the Government to provide some indication the problem is being being addressed that goes beyond saying it takes the matter seriously.

To headline the story with the cost of compensation payments could lead some to infer that teachers were somehow gaming the system.

That was an error of judgment in my view.

Marie Coleman, Watson

Your editorial ("Government must act on bikie gangs", July 19, p13) urged the Barr government to act on the spread of these gangs.

I have to agree, but I will not be surprised if the government's response is to re-zone existing sites in say, Fyshwick and Mitchell, and offer them for sale at exorbitant prices to developers willing to construct purpose-built living and working facilities for bikies.

Peter Moran, Watson

If the ACT government hadn't spent all the mental health dollars on the secure mental health facility then there would have been lots of funds to get the excellent "Home in Canberra" project off the ground.

("My Home in Canberra president John Tucker disappointed by lack of budget funding", canberratimes.com.au, July 16).

Mr Tucker's committee has already done so much thorough planning and put in countless unpaid hours to get this happening.

The facility is based on a model that is already working in Queanbeyan and founded on sound best practice. But all for nought – ignored by a government focused only on locking people up.

Rosslyn Williams, Holder

The Canberra Times has hit the nail on its head with its testimonial to Val Jeffries.

Val Jeffries predicted Canberra's worst bush fire. He, along with a South Australian expert on bush fires, said we were not doing enough and they would happen. He protected his own patch and they escaped unscathed.

Our ACT politicians debunked his warnings and when the fire caused incredible damage they all dived for cover.

Most of us are deeply appreciative of Val. Personally I have a feeling at this point in time that the fire trails are being neglected. Val also had that feeling.

When he sat in the Legislative Assembly every speech he made reflected that feeling. The bodies who should prevent another fire are being underfunded.

I think Val would say if you forget past mistakes you will probably repeat them.

Howard Carew, Isaacs

I received my rates notice for 2017-18 today. Thank you Mr Barr for the 27.85 per cent increase over last year. I'll remember that next election — which can't come soon enough.

Don Sephton, Greenway

M. Moore, Bonython

Richard Johnston (Letters, July20) refers to the "The Griffin Legacy", NCA, 2004, in seeming to advocate dense development along tram routes in Canberra.

This "blueprint for the future development of the central national areas" of Canberra has nothing to do with the planning without vision that is going on with respect to the towns.

Planning a tram line to Tuggeranong flies in the face of stark realities.

Here are some opportunities for the future development of Canberra:

• Distribute densification.

• Don't extend the light rail.

• Exploit bus priority and bus lanes.

• Sponsor commuter ride-sharing (2017).

• Exploit the NBN and fibre optics (2018).

• Introduce electric driverless-car public transport (2025).

• Use the brainpower in our research organisations.

If these opportunities are taken, the threats itemised in "The Griffin Legacy" to Canberra (central) achieving its full potential will disappear.

Moreover, we might spin-off some new industries in Canberra.

John L.Smith, Farrer

In her essay in the Canberra Times of July17 ("Sensible Centre is where most of us belong", p.16), Amanda Vanstone makes some comments concerning "migrant DNA".

In particular, she makes the following statement: "Unless you're a full-blood Indigenous Australian you've got migrant blood. Its probably from that migrant DNA that we get our willingness to face the new, to face change for the better, as our forbears did."

Later on in the essay, she refers to the "courageous DNA of migrants".

Can Ms Vanstone please provide evidence to support her "migrant DNA" theory, which might be seen to involve those with "migrant DNA" being elevated in certain respects above those without "migrant DNA"?

Also, she needs to be aware the people who lived on the Australian continent shortly before British colonisation were descendants of migrants, who came here thousands of years ago.

D. McNeill, Rivett

Congratulation to Roger Federer on winning his eighth Wimbledon Championship and 19th tennis major overall. Federer is one of the greatest players that graced a tennis court. A true gentleman, his exemplary conduct on and off the court puts to shame some other current tennis players.

However, as great as Federer is, he did not win eight grand slams or even "19 slams" as some sport commentators would like us to believe, when they add up all the "majors" he won so far. A grand slam in tennis is winning all four "majors" in singles competition during a calendar year. That is, the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Championship and the US Open.

The last time such a feat was achieved by a man was in 1969, by Rod Laver. Laver also achieved this in 1962 during the amateur era.

The last time a woman won the grand slam was in 1988, by Steffi Graf. Graf also won the gold medal in women's singles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Describing any of the current crop of tennis players as grand slam winners, including the incredible Federer, takes away from the exceptional achievement of the very few who actually managed to do so.

R.S. Baczynski, Isaacs

The resignation of Greens senator Scott Ludlam after revelation of a dual citizenship he never knew he had, shows the potential of current constitutional interpretation to be used maliciously, similarly to how it has been used in Burma and Malaysia to prevent popular opposition leaders from standing for office.

In addition, while Section 44 of the Constitution debars from election anyone who is a "subject or citizen of a foreign power", counterintuitively it is only a subsidiary law, the Electoral Act, that requires a candidate to be an Australian citizen. Surely the latter should be the major, if not the sole criterion?

Section 44 disenfranchises thousands of Australians who are dual nationals (however unwittingly), or who hold "offices of profit" under the Crown, such as school teachers. Bankrupts are debarred even if the bankruptcy was caused not by their own fault but by the malfeasance of the bank that held their accounts.

Persons under sentence of one year or more are barred, even if nomination day is their last day in jail. All these causes of candidate ineligibility are open to manipulation by others, including by the government itself.

In a democracy, the electors should be able to choose whomever they want.

Section 44 must be thoroughly reformed, if not repealed, to ensure all Australians can stand for office.

Brendan Whyte, Phillip

The role and purpose of the "third umpire" was again patently obvious during the recently concluded second cricket Test match between England and South Africa.

I refer specifically to two umpiring decisions, each involving a batsman given "out" and "not out" when the replays clearly suggested the opposite ruling should have been made.

While these decisions did not affect the outcome of the game, they had the potential to do so.

This reinforces the need to have the right for either side to call for a referral to the third umpire of any contentious decision, and also for the third umpire to intervene directly.

Rugby League recently introduced its Bunker system to reduce (if not eliminate) errors.

Perhaps the cricket hierarchy should at something similar.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

NO QUOTAS PLEASE

Talk about gender (or Aboriginal Australian) quotas for parliamentary candidates is as backward as feudalism. Judgment for such a position ought to be on merit and independent of the class or group a person was born into. Same to Katy Gallagher's entreaty that we try to put a 1 in box next to a woman candidate. Um, that doesn't come into it.

J. Coleman, Chisholm

A MATTER OF TIME

Have our corporate betting agencies yet framed their books on when the army first opens fire on an Australian protest group?

D. C. Mildern, Lyons.

ROUND THREE TO TONY?

If the first leg of the Turnbull trifecta is that the military will "assist" in domestic terror situations and the second leg is a super Ministry of Home Affairs, will the third leg be the return of Tony Abbott to cabinet? If so it will be a reward for bullying and petulant behaviour. Factional appeasement in our time.

Graeme Rankin, Holder

SIMPLE DEFINITION

Pertinent to the Coalition tensions is an Ambrose Bierce observation that a Conservative is a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

M. F. Horton, Adelaide, SA

TRAIN OF THOUGHT

I have the perfect solution to pay for light rail. No need to put up our land rates, increase the charges for gas and electricity, or re-zone land for development; why not just impose a road toll into and out of Canberra along that treeless main expressway known as Northbourne Avenue?

Richard Greene, Curtin

ROOT OF THE MATTER

With Dutton getting a major boost from the Prime Minister to keep him quiet, what else can be done to get rid of him?

Desperate measures, but perhaps there should be a check as to whether he holds dual citizenship.

Keith Croker, Kambah

THANKS FOR THE SNUB

After learning of the shooting of the unarmed Australian woman Justine Damond by a policeman in Minneapolis, I am once again thankful to the mob in the American embassy in Sydney who arbitrarily rejected my visa to enter or pass through the US.

Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Given his relentless politicisation of the immigration portfolio, I suspect Peter Dutton's first contact with the head of ASIO will be to ask for Bill Shorten's file and any other dirt they have on the ALP's front bench.

Mike Reddy, Curtin

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