MR JOHN STALKER, the former deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester, has suggested a series of possible reforms to tighten access to firearms in the wake of the Dunblane school killings.
Mr Stalker said yesterday that the authorities should examine whether psychologists and GPs might have a role to play in safeguarding the public against such attacks.
He said: "The decision to grant or withhold a firearms or shotgun certificate is that of a police chief constable. But any decision to refuse a certificate, revoke it or change its conditions is open to appeal in the local Crown Court.
"The chief constable or his representative has to go to court to justify the decision and it's impossible to justify decisions based on a hunch, instinct, police experience, that someone is a bit suspect.
"Quite rightly, that stops the arbitrary use of police powers, but it does put the police on the back foot, and what that means is that people like Hamilton slip through the net.
"Perhaps a test devised by psychologists, written and verbal, should be taken to try and see if someone is stable, before a certificate is granted."
Mr Stalker also questioned whether certificates have an excessively long life. At present a certificate lasts five years.
He suggested a way might be found to make GPs aware when patients were certificate holders, and that they could help monitor their suitability.
Top policemen said yesterday they backed a firearms amnesty in the wake of the Dunblane murders.
Mr Jim Sharples, Chief Constable of Merseyside and president of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "We have said for some time we would like a firearms amnesty some time later this year and that was being considered before yesterday's events."
He also said a working party had been looking at the question of protection of school premises following the murder of the London headmaster, Philip Lawrence, shortly before Christmas.