Instead of chastising malaysiakini for its April Fool's joke , Abdul Gani Patail should focus more on his duties as attorney-general. Sadly, in the last few years, statistics revealed that firearms cases have reached an alarmingly high rate and this can be attributed to the failure of the AG to properly address the problem.

In the early 1970s when the Firearms Act 1968 was augmented with the Firearms Increased Act 1971, criminal elements were wary of using firearms in the commission of their crimes because the AG then did not hesitate to use the new law, which allows a mandatory death sentence for anyone caught with firearms.

Lately , we see a surge in criminal elements using firearms for robbery, murder and hire killings because the AG's Chambers has been charging criminals under the old firearms act, which only provide for five to 20 years imprisonment. Criminals have taken full advantage of the AG's laxity and have gone in droves across a neighbouring country to purchase easily available firearms.

Apparently, the grapevine is that hire killers are available at a price and this simply reflect their confidence that should they be caught it will only be a few years behind bars because the AG will only charge them under the 1968 Firearms Act.