On 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into the gym hall of Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and murdered 16 children and their teacher, Gwen Mayor, using four legally owned handguns. Another 12 children and three adults were shot or injured. All but two of the children were aged just five or six. The massacre, one of the worst gun atrocities in British history, led directly to a near-total ban on private handgun ownership in the UK – a law that remains in place today, and a policy that recently came under criticism from a minor party leader.
The event happened in the small town of Dunblane, about 40 miles north of Glasgow. Hamilton, a former Scout leader, had a history of concerning behaviour but held a legitimate firearms certificate. After the shooting, a public inquiry led by Lord Cullen concluded that the tragedy could have been prevented with tighter gun controls. The Conservative government of John Major responded by passing the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which banned most handguns. The Labour government elected later that year extended the ban to all handguns except those used by target shooters in licensed clubs, effectively ending private handgun ownership in mainland Britain.
“Explaining the 1996 Dunblane massacre, the UK handgun ban and the recent controversy over Rupert Lowe's comments.”
For UK readers, the ban is one of the most prominent examples of gun control in the world. It means that, unlike in the United States, handguns are extremely rare in private hands. Police in the UK do not routinely carry firearms because officers believe the risk of armed criminals is low. The ban has cross-party support and is often cited by gun control advocates as a successful measure: there has been no mass school shooting in the UK since Dunblane. However, the ban does not cover shotguns or rifles, which can still be owned with a licence, and some forms of handgun ownership remain in Northern Ireland.
In July 2026, the leader of a minor political party called Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe – the MP for Great Yarmouth who was previously suspended from Reform UK – appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast and criticised the handgun ban. He said it had been introduced "because there was a murder in Dunblane", to which Rogan clarified "one murder". Lowe repeated that description. A spokesperson for Restore Britain said Lowe was "clearly referring to one incident". The comments prompted widespread outrage, particularly from the families of victims. Kenny Ross, whose daughter Joanna was killed, told BBC Scotland News: "It's people like him that are very ignorant and selfish." Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr called the remarks "astonishingly insensitive and profoundly disrespectful" and said they "diminishes one of the darkest days in Scotland's modern history".
Q: How many people died in the Dunblane massacre? Sixteen children and their teacher, Gwen Mayor, were killed. Another 12 children and three adults were shot or injured. All but two of the children were aged five or six.
Q: What did the handgun ban after Dunblane involve? The 1997 Firearms (Amendment) Act banned most handguns in mainland Britain, with few exceptions for licensed target shooting clubs. It was later tightened to ban virtually all private handgun ownership, though shotguns and rifles remain legal with a licence.
Q: Why did Rupert Lowe's comments cause such a backlash? Lowe described the massacre as "one murder" on a podcast, which victims' families and politicians said minimised the tragedy. Kenny Ross, whose daughter was killed, called the remarks "ignorant and selfish", while Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said they were "astonishingly insensitive and profoundly disrespectful".
What happens next: The controversy is unlikely to lead to any change in gun laws, as the ban remains widely supported across the political spectrum. Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain party is polling at around 4.5 per cent and his comments may further marginalise his party. The families of Dunblane victims continue to campaign for remembrance and education about the tragedy, with the 30th anniversary having passed in 2026.
