22 years ago
So for the bairns of Dunblane
We ask please never again
Victoria Clydesdale, Emma Crozier, Melissa Currie, Charlotte Dunn, Kevin Hasell, Ross Irvine, David Kerr, Mhairi MacBeath, Brett McKinnon, Abigail McLennan, Emily Morton, Sophie North, John Petrie, Joanna Ross, Hannah Scott, Megan Turner, and their teacher, Gwen Mayor.
The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when gunman Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and one teacher before committing suicide. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history.[1]
Public debate about the killings centred on gun control laws, including public petitions calling for a ban on private ownership of handguns and an official inquiry, which produced the 1996 Cullen Reports.[2] In response to this debate, two new Firearms Acts were passed, which greatly restricted private ownership of firearms in Great Britain.
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In response to this public debate, the then-current Conservative government of John Major introduced the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which banned all cartridge ammunition handguns with the exception of .22 calibre single-shot weapons in England, Scotland and Wales, but following the 1997 General Election, the Labour government of Tony Blair introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, banning the remaining .22 cartridge handguns as well.[20] This left only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns (e.g. "Long-Arms") that fall outside the Home Office definition of a "handgun" because of their dimensions. The ban does not affect Northern Ireland.
Musical note
With the consent of Bob Dylan, the musician Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in memory of the Dunblane school children and their teacher. The recording of the revised version of the song, which included brothers and sisters of the victims singing the chorus and Mark Knopfler on guitar, was released on 9 December 1996 in the UK, and reached number 1. The proceeds went to charities for children