Critics say the government will end pistol shooting as a sport

Final Attempt to Stop Total Handgun Ban Fails

The government's Firearms (Amendment) Bill bans all handguns in Britain. This includes the .22 calibre weapons exempted by the original Act, passed under the Conservatives in the wake of the Dunblane tragedy. Wednesday's move to try and remove .22 weapons from the ban was defeated by 385 votes to 167.

Tory MP Andrew Robathan slammed the Bill as "profoundly bad legislation". He added: "It's being brought in for the wrong reasons. It's petty-minded, it's mean and it will not do what it is intended to do, namely to protect the public."

Mr Robathan claimed the Bill would end pistol shooting as a sport in this country. He was told by the Home Office Minister, Alun Michael, that it was not the government's intention to do away with the sport. However, he added that the government had "examined all the evidence", concluding "that the way to protect the public was by banning all handguns."

Mr Michael was challenged by the Shadow Home Office Minister, David Maclean, who said that the original Act was enough to protect the public. He argued: "The 1997 Act is the Act which has secured public safety, because that is the Act which has banned all high calibre weapons."

Mr Maclean said he hoped that the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, would think once more about the effect of the legislation on a sport in which Britain had traditionally been successful.

The former Tory Attorney General, Sir Nicholas Lyell, said it was easy for someone to purchase a .22 pistol in France and bring it back to the UK undetected. He concluded: "You are balancing the risk we cannot protect against, against the very minute risk of allowing these highly responsible people, national competitors and disabled people from having a limited access to .22 pistols."