Dunblane gun control campaigners endured death threats and bomb scares
Campaigners who successfully pushed for a ban on handguns following the Dunblane massacre were subjected to death threats and bomb scares, the head of the Gun Control Network (GCN) has revealed. This harrowing resistance highlights the intense fight to tighten gun laws in Britain.
The morning of March 13, 1996 saw Thomas Hamilton enter the gymnasium of Dunblane Primary School, armed with four legally owned handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Within minutes, 16 students and a teacher were shot dead and 15 others injured in the deadliest mass shooting in British history.
In the months that followed, a coalition of campaigners, lawyers, academics and the parent of one of the victims formed the GCN. Their mission was clear: To advocate for robust gun controls, including a comprehensive ban on handguns. The GCN was not alone in its efforts, joining forces with the Snowdrop Campaign, founded by local mothers in Dunblane and the families of the victims themselves.
Speaking to the Press Association, GCN chief executive Gill Marshall-Andrews described the “very strong and very fierce” opposition they had faced from the pro-gun lobby. “We were under tremendous pressure from the gun lobby because we were their obvious target,” he explained. “They couldn’t really target the Dunblane families. They couldn’t criticize them. They couldn’t attack them because of who they were.”
He added: “Mick (North, whose child was among those killed) was involved but the rest of us were not involved in Dunblane. So in a way we were legitimate targets. We got a lot of death threats. We had a letterbox in Finchley that was regularly closed because of bomb threats.”
Ms Marshall-Andrews recalled campaigners were told a gun ban was impossible because “pistol shooting is the fastest growing sport in the UK”. He mused: “If you think about it, that pretty much sums it all up, because if handguns hadn’t been banned back then, we’d be on our way to America.”
The Cullen Report in September 1996 recommended tighter gun ownership restrictions. The following year, John Major’s Conservative government introduced a ban on most handguns. Then in 1997 Tony Blair’s Labor government extended the law to cover all cartridge-carrying guns. Ms Marshall-Andrews described campaigners as “delighted” by the move, calling it “the gold standard. This was fantastic. This was something that couldn’t be done.”
When asked about the campaign’s success, he attributed it to “a wave of public disgust” at the massacre, which “made it possible to do something about it”. Professor Peter Squires, a gun law expert at the University of Brighton, echoed this sentiment. “This was the direct shock and horror of such a horrific event,” he said. “Killing five- and six-year-old children was horrifying.”
He continued: “I think it triggered a huge wave of opposition, you know: ‘Could something like this happen here?’ “It took away all the knee-jerk reactions that are sometimes a phenomenon (in events like this).” Professor Squires also noted that the timing of the campaign, which coincided with the 1997 general election and the incoming Labor government’s focus on “law and order”, further aided its cause.
GCN’s advocacy continued and contributed to the banning of imitation firearms in 2006 and the introduction of legislation requiring the registration of airguns in Scotland in 2015. Ms Marshall-Andrews said the group’s current focus was on reclassifying shotguns under the Firearms Act 1968 and bringing them in line with rifles because “it is time we recognized that shotguns are the primary gun threat”.
Both Ms Marshall-Andrews and Professor Squires warned against “institutional complacency” in arms regulation that could reduce its effectiveness. They cited the Port Arthur massacre, which took place in Australia in April 1996, weeks after Dunblane, and led to tighter gun controls in Australia, and another mass shooting at Bondi Beach last year.
Ms Marshall-Andrews stressed: “Gun laws need to be kept up to date. They need to reflect the current reality. There are new types of guns. There is a huge gun lobby ready and waiting to roll back legislation. You cannot remain complacent.”
