Shooting incident should serve as a warning

THE miraculous escape of a woman who was accidentally shot in County Roscommon recently should again focus attention on the dangers posed by lethal weapons in the hands of so-called sportsmen.

The bullet extracted from the woman's neck had been discharged from a .22 rifle. Tens of thousands of these 'fun-guns' are used throughout Ireland.

While the case of the Roscommon woman has received media coverage because of its apparently freakish nature, we should not forget that bullets fly in all directions in the countryside most days of the week, many of them in the proximity of towns and villages.