Pick of the week’s correspondence

400 million guns To The Daily Telegraph

Could President Biden “take on the National Rifle Association”? The answer is clearly no, but it would be academic anyway. About 400 million guns are in the hands of private US citizens – 67 million more than the entire population. Legislation to control the sale of arms would at this point simply establish a thriving black market.

The Second Amendment was enacted to allow citizens to protect themselves from an overweening government. Today that means having the same access to automatic weapons as, say, the National Guard. I do not say it is right, but it is their constitution and they must learn both to live and die with it.

Simon Baumgartner, East Molesey, Surrey

Have money, get money To The Guardian

Multiple homeowners will avail themselves of the £400 [of energy bill rebates] on both primary and secondary homes. As there are around 500,000 second homes in the UK, that’s an additional £200m that could be used more equitably. As with the massive fraud that occurred during the pandemic due to the inability of governments to regulate the formation of new companies, money is being leeched to those who don’t need it. The meek among us can only look forward to inheriting the Earth.

Barbara Holroyd, Erpingham, Norfolk

It’s for Ukraine to decide To The Times

Max Hastings wrongly accuses Ben Wallace and Liz Truss of engaging in “irresponsible rhetoric” for insisting on the total withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory as a precondition of peace. The reputation of the UK has never been higher with most Ukrainians, because it rests on two principles: that Ukrainians are entitled to defend the entirety of their land, and that their destiny cannot be bartered between the West and Russia. Hastings’s contention that we are “egging on” Ukraine to pursue unrealisable war objectives is based on the assumption that they need “guidance” about their future. I assumed that this morally dubious approach was discredited at the end of the Cold War. Clearly it survives in nooks and crannies. Jonathan Eyal, associate director, Royal United Services Institute

Faulty towers To the Financial Times

George Hammond’s report (“Tower block developers scale back London plans”) focuses on the rising costs of land and construction without considering how unfavourable tower block ownership has become. Over the past three years, apartment sales are down by 60%, according to Land Registry data. Affected by both the cladding and the leasehold scandal, nowadays few want to buy a property in a tower block for which they do not trust the build quality and where they cannot control their service-charge costs.

This lack of demand has been self-inflicted by developers, and they only have themselves to blame. Dimitrios Konstantinidis, London

Pressure is no excuse To The Guardian

I have read that a reason for No. 10 parties was the pressure people were under. I understand that pressure. From late September 2001, I worked in New York at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner dealing with the aftermath of 9/11. We worked every day for 15 hours-plus. When things calmed a little, my boss said we might get it down to 12 hours and the odd day off. The next day, the second biggest plane crash in US history hit Queens, New York, and we had a second disaster to deal with. Number of in-work parties to help with the pressure? Zero. Not Thanksgiving, Christmas, Eid, Hanukah or New Year. Not birthdays or for anyone leaving. The chief medical examiner set the standard: no photos, no talking to the press, no parties. Because he knew how the families of victims would feel. Because it’s about leadership.

Adrian Jones, Wadebridge, Cornwall

The PM’s low standards To The Times

As a member, until December last year, of the committee on standards for public life, I was closely involved in the writing of the report Standards Matters 2, to which Boris Johnson has responded with revisions of the ministerial code. Its recommendations were not designed to water down standards but were intended to develop a balanced approach to accountability with appropriate sanctions – including retaining resignation for the most serious breaches, such as misleading Parliament.

This PM is abusing the ministerial code, which is owned by him. His redrafting demotes the seven principles of public life, indicating a choice to ignore the fundamentals of parliamentary accountability, which he of course understands. I conclude that he is avoiding accountability through all conventional channels. Surely his MPs cannot ignore this any longer. Jane Martin, member of the committee for standards in public life, 2016-21