Grieving Dunblane dad says gun laws are still too lax

The father of a five-year-old girl who was murdered in the Dunblane primary school shooting says gun laws are still too lax 30 years later.

Mick North's daughter Sophie was shot dead along with 15 of her classmates and their teacher, Gwen Mayor, in the central Scotland town on 13 March 1996.

The gunman, Thomas Hamilton, had entered the school with four legally-owned handguns and 743 rounds of ammunition. In the weeks after the tragedy, North helped to start a successful campaign for a complete ban on private handgun ownership.

He now says UK government ministers need to be "more proactive" in identifying potential dangers as the "threat" from firearms evolves.

"The whole of firearms legislation needs to be reviewed," he said, giving the handling of 3D printed guns as an example of how the law had developed in a "piecemeal" fashion.

He is similarly concerned about converted replica guns as well as weapons with barrels just long enough to fall outside the handgun ban

North also called for stricter background checks for firearms licensing, including taking into account social media posts and the views of an applicant's partner.

MPs are currently considering whether to tighten shotgun licensing laws to bring them into line with restrictions on rifles.

"The government should be leading, they should be spotting loopholes in the law and plugging them before anything happens," North told BBC News.

"They certainly shouldn't be complacent and they should always remain vigilant and that's a message I will continue to try and push."

Firearms regulation in the UK is complex with some variations around the country but the framework is set by Westminster.

A spokesperson for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) said this week's anniversary was a moment to "remember the victims" and said their thoughts remained with the families and all those affected.

It said: "The UK already has one of the most comprehensive and stringent firearms licensing systems in the world. Legal firearms owners are subject to extensive background and suitability checks, medical checks, secure storage stipulations and ongoing police oversight.

"Firearms used in criminal activity in the UK are overwhelmingly held illegally, not by certificate holders who follow the law and operate within a tightly regulated system."

The statement said 3D printed firearms are already illegal in the UK and the BASC supported the law.

"BASC does not support proposals that would fundamentally change the shotgun licensing system without clear evidence that they would improve public safety," it added.

North is also urging Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to renounce comments made on LBC in 2014 that the handgun ban was "ludicrous" and a "knee-jerk reaction" to Dunblane.

"There is a man out there who some people might be predicting could be the prime minister of this country who is advocating re-arming people," said North.

Farage made the comments when he was the leader of UKIP, and his Reform UK party insists it has no plans to repeal or weaken existing firearms law.

In response to a request for an interview, Reform UK provided a statement from Farage.

"I assure you Reform UK has absolutely no plans to loosen gun laws. My previous comments referred to the impracticality of laws affecting competitive sports," it read.

That comment recalled the argument advanced after Dunblane that shooting clubs and even Britain's Olympic shooting team would be unfairly affected by a handgun ban.

The gun lobby was supported by Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, who suggested banning handguns in response to Dunblane would be akin to banning cricket bans because they too could be used as lethal weapons.

North and Ann Pearston, who led the Snowdrop Campaign for a handgun ban after Dunblane, were speaking to BBC News at his home in Perthshire.

He recalled how he campaigned through his grief, helping to set up a group called the Gun Control Network.

"I just knew that fate had put me in this position and that I thought it was very important to do whatever I could," he said.

The Snowdrop Campaign, named after the only flower in bloom at the time of the shooting, gathered 705,000 signatures on a petition to MPs which called for tighter safety measures and restrictions on firearms including a ban on the private ownership of handguns.

Nine years earlier, the law had been tightened after a gunman ran amok in the Berkshire town of Hungerford, killing 16 people.

The 1988 Firearms Amendment Act banned the ownership of semi-automatic and pump-action rifles, weapons which fire explosive ammunition and short shotguns with magazines.

Licensing, registration and storage of shotguns were also tightened up but handguns remained legal.

In 1997, under pressure from Dunblane families, Snowdrop campaigners and others, the Conservative Prime Minister John Major agreed to introduce a partial handgun ban in Scotland, England and Wales, with an exemption for .22 calibre weapons which are used in competitive shooting.

Later that year, following the election of Tony Blair as Labour prime minister, the ban was extended to cover all handguns.

For the Tories, Shadow Home Secretary Michael Howard, called it a "draconian" infringement of liberty which was "unnecessary, unfair and expensive".

Thirty years on, North and Pearston do not hesitate when asked if the ban which they helped to bring about saved lives.

"Undoubtedly, yes," North said, pointing out "the huge difference" with the United States where more people are murdered with guns daily than are shot and killed annually in Britain.

"The legacy," said Pearston, "is that this is now one of the safest countries in the world for gun crime."