Newcastle’s new deputy lord mayor has been forced to apologise for making a “crass and insensitive” joke about gun violence the day after a school shooting in Texas.
Veronica Dunn took up the city’s second highest civic role this week, a post that also grants her the honorary title of Sheriff of Newcastle. The long-serving Byker councillor remarked during her acceptance speech on Wednesday that she had already been presented with a Stetson hat and fake gun to celebrate her new position, while jokes were made by her and new lord mayor Karen Robinson about whether she would have access to a gun cupboard.
Coun Dunn then told the annual meeting of Newcastle City Council : “Believe you me, it is probably not a good idea for me to have one because I would not be responsible for what I might do with it.”
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