I refer to Arnold Cassola’s letter (June 3) in which he replied to my article of June 1.

Long story short, the fact is that Cassola (and others) are responsible for the ommission of an important contribution to an academic debate and further aggravated this omission with a foreign academic.

In his letter, Cassola did not refer to this basic fact. Instead, he preferred to refer to an incident from my past, as if it has any relevance to the point at issue.

That said, I will clarify that I was indeed found guilty of carrying a firearm without a licence 10 years ago and that I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

The judge imposed the minimum penalty because he understood my predicament and took note of my “otherwise impeccable conduct” and the fact that I “was not carrying the weapon for some evil purpose” (his words not mine, in para. 16 of the sentence).

At the time, I was being threatened by a person well known to the police and the police failed to give me the protection I asked for. If the police don’t protect you, then you have the sacrosanct right to protect yourself. I challenge anyone to disagree.

Of course, the former secretary general of the pro-abortion European Greens might have other views on the sanctity of life.

Finally, Federico Corriente, the Spanish professor I mentioned in my article, has e-mailed me (Times of Malta has been forwarded a copy of the e-mails), saying he read my article of June 1, that he was disappointed with the behaviour I described and, basically, agreeing with my understanding of the situation.

I wonder what Cassola has to say to the Spanish professor.