Why should we stop sensible people enjoying the only three days out of the year from using fireworks? By saying that we must ban fireworks because people are getting themselves injured, pets are going crazy and fireworks have been used to vandalise property is stupid. These problems are the individual's responsibility and so it is not the majority's fault that the minority is just plain silly.
Banning fireworks would place more pressure on policing the new law, as most people would find other means of getting them.
It would be more beneficial to encourage the public to use fireworks sensibly.
Injuries caused by fireworks are because of improper usage. Pets running away because of fireworks are because people are lazy and don't lock their pets indoors. If fireworks are banned, then those who vandalise via fireworks will find other means of doing so.
So why should we stop the sensible from having fun just because a minority of people are stupid? It would be much better to encourage the public to use fireworks properly.
B. Byes, Kambah
Interestingly, some in favour of fireworks in the ACT have placed their faith in an effective approval system and an assumption of its effective policing.
Given the one-hour wait for the police in the cold on Saturday morning experienced by the owners of the Rivett newsagency subjected to a ram-raid, and personal experience of rocks (5kg and 3kg) in our bedroom, slashed tyres and other damaged property, one would counsel against such a fantastic hope.
Patrick Robertson, Rivett
Devil of an assertion
Tony Hoang (''When a gangster saw the light'', June 7, p25) contends that Catholics, after Sunday Mass, live the rest of the week like the devil. Such generalisations are untrue if the lives of a couple of Catholic friends of mine are any guide. Two recently-deceased benefactors of society, Frank Costigan and Chris O'Brien, also give the lie to Hoang's outrageous assertion.
Hoang is to be commended for turning his life around but this unjust allegation detracts from his claim to have committed his life to Jesus.
Eric French, Higgins
Outmoded justice
I write regarding the horrifying series of events that led Gabe Watson (''Honeymoon dive killer to spend 12 months in jail'', June 6, p7) to wink his way into a 12-month sentence courtesy of a few well-planned and simple legal manoeuvres that played the Australian ''justice'' system like a cheap card game.
I for one am glad the legal system in this country is being seen for the joke it is by the international community.
It has been insulated for so long from public outcry and accountability by the arrogant legal profession (backed by their 700 years beyond use-by-date Westminster principles), that what is ''common sense'' has long disappeared from any decision-making process.
J. Tanner, Amaroo
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