Dunblane school shooting: Rise of US-style attitudes to guns must not be allowed to endanger UK's strict laws
The only changes to gun laws should be to tighten them and close any loopholes
Thirty years ago today, 16 young children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School were murdered, in just four minutes, in the worst mass shooting in UK history. The scale of this appalling tragedy was made possible because the killer was armed with four legally held handguns.
Following a campaign for tighter firearms controls, led by parents of children who were killed, the then Conservative government introduced legislation banning most handguns in 1997. The law was then tightened by the subsequent Labour government later that year.
The UK now has some of the world’s toughest restrictions on gun ownership, which have helped ensure no similar school shooting has taken place in the three decades since.
‘One small glimmer of light’
Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said the “complete consensus across Scottish society and across all the political parties” about the need for a handgun ban had been the “one small glimmer of light in the enveloping darkness”.
He also expressed his “deep admiration for the campaigning work of the affected parents” and said he felt a “shared determination” to honour the victims’ memory by “continuing to uphold those tight gun laws which have been so critical to Scotland's safety in the last 30 years”.
On that point, Ellie Crozier, whose sister Emma was killed, warned that the UK’s laws were “at risk” because of changing social attitudes towards guns.
“An example of this can be seen in the American-style shooting ranges you can see in gun clubs here in Scotland, in video games... you can even 3D-print guns,” she said. “There is a notion, even from various politicians, that our laws should be relaxed. This cannot happen, under any circumstances. The cost is too high.”
READ MORE: Grief, love, and remembrance – a sister's tribute to the brother killed in Dunblane shooting
While farmers need shotguns and rifles are necessary, for example, to cull deer, there is absolutely no good reason for anyone in Britain to have a handgun, with the exceptions of armed police and the military, and the only changes to the law should be to tighten it and close any loopholes.
We must always remember the horror of Dunblane on that bleakest of days and strive to make sure it is never repeated.