Campaigners who successfully pushed for a ban on handguns in the wake of the Dunblane massacre endured death threats and bomb scares, the chairwoman of the Gun Control Network (GCN) has revealed. The harrowing resistance highlights the intense battle fought to secure stricter gun laws in Britain.
The morning of 13 March, 1996 saw Thomas Hamilton enter Dunblane Primary School’s gymnasium armed with four legally-owned handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Within minutes, 16 pupils and a teacher were shot dead, and 15 others injured, in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history.
In the months that followed, a coalition of campaigners, lawyers, academics, and a parent of one of the victims established 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 victims’ families themselves.
Speaking to the Press Association, GCN chairwoman Gill Marshall-Andrews recounted the "very strong and very violent" opposition they encountered from the pro-gun lobby. "We were under enormous pressure from the gun lobby, because we were the obvious target for them," she explained. "They couldn’t really target the Dunblane families. They couldn’t criticise them. They couldn’t attack them because of who they were."
She added: "Mick (North, whose child was among those killed) was involved but the rest of us were not involved in Dunblane. So we were, as it were, legitimate targets. We had a lot of death threats. We had a PO Box in Finchley that was regularly closed because of bomb threats."
Ms Marshall-Andrews recalled campaigners being told a handgun ban was impossible because "pistol shooting is the fastest growing sport in the UK". She reflected: "If you think about that, that sums it up in a nutshell, because if handguns had not been banned then, we would be down the American road."
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. Later in 1997, Tony Blair’s Labour government expanded the legislation to include all cartridge ammunition handguns. Ms Marshall-Andrews described campaigners as "overjoyed" by the move, calling it "the gold standard. That was amazing. That was something that couldn’t be done."
Asked about the campaign’s success, she attributed it to a "tide of public revulsion" against 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. "It was just the outright shock and horror of such an appalling incident," he said. "To kill five and six-year-old children was just so appalling."
He continued: "I think it set in train a whole tidal wave of opposition – you know: ‘Can this kind of thing happen here?’ It cut through all the knee-jerk reaction that is sometimes a phenomenon in (incidents like this)." Professor Squires also noted that the campaign’s timing, coinciding with the 1997 general election and the incoming Labour government’s focus on "law and order", further aided its cause.
The GCN’s advocacy has continued, contributing to a ban on imitation firearms in 2006 and, in Scotland in 2015, legislation requiring the registration of air guns. Ms Marshall-Andrews stated the group’s current focus is on reclassifying shotguns under the Firearms Act 1968, aligning them with rifles, as "it’s time we recognise that shotguns are the primary gun threat".
Both Ms Marshall-Andrews and Professor Squires warned against "institutional complacency" in gun regulation, which could erode its effectiveness. They cited the Port Arthur massacre in Australia in April 1996, weeks after Dunblane, which led to tougher Australian gun controls, yet another mass shooting occurred at Bondi Beach last year.
Ms Marshall-Andrews stressed: "Gun laws have got to be kept up to date. They’ve got to reflect current reality. There are new kinds of guns. There’s a huge gun lobby that’s ready and waiting to roll back the legislation. You can’t be complacent."
