Rupert Lowe has sparked outrage after incorrectly claiming there was just \u201cone murder\u201d during the Dunblane massacre.<\/p>\n
The Restore Britain leader told podcaster Joe Rogan that handguns in the UK were banned \u201cbecause there was a murder up in Dunblane\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Rogan asks the Great Yarmouth MP: \u201cOne murder?,\u201d before Mr Lowe replies: \u201cOne murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sixteen children aged five and six and their teacher were killed by Thomas Hamilton at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996.<\/p>\n
Another 15 children and three adults were injured before Hamilton killed himself.<\/p>\n
The tragedy remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history and led to major reform of the UK\u2019s gun laws.<\/p>\n
Mr Lowe\u2019s comments prompted backlash, with Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr describing them as \u201cshocking\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOne murder? Sixteen kids and their teacher were murdered. Fifteen other primary school children were wounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy children\u2019s school, about 15 minutes from Dunblane, was locked down that day. They\u2019ll never forget being kept in the gym hall until everyone learned the gunman was dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll never forget the teachers trying to hold themselves together while reassuring frightened children.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo reduce that atrocity to \u2018one murder\u2019 is deeply insulting. It wasn\u2019t a single murder. It was a mass murder. In a primary school.”<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cAlmost as disturbing was the tone \u2013 one of disbelief, even mockery, that anyone could respond by tightening gun laws. This wasn\u2019t some obscure historical event. It happened in 1996, when Lowe was 38 years old.<\/p>\n
“He should have known what happened on that terrifying day in Dunblane. For anyone who remembers that day, hearing it dismissed so casually is genuinely shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Lowe made the comments as he gave his opinion to Mr Rogan on why the UK has strict gun laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cEffectively, they are trying to make that very difficult through the licensing laws for guns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he\u2019s dead now, bless him, but all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University.<\/p>\n
“I mean, we now have a society which needs radical change.\u201d<\/p>\n
SNP MSP Keith Brown. Credit: PA<\/p>\n
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane SNP MSP Keith Brown said: \u201cRupert Lowe is a stain on our politics and his comments are beyond despicable. Sixteen children and a teacher were shot dead while 15 more children were wounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite these hideous remarks from Rupert Lowe, the Snowdrop Campaign that followed that terrible day ensured a ban on the private ownership of most handguns \u2013 that is the proud legacy of the bereaved families and the local community.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir courage and determination in the aftermath of the attack is something we should never betray and our community will never let the likes of Rupert Lowe do exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour MP Chris Kane raised a point of order in the House of Commons, telling MPs Mr Lowe\u2019s comments had \u201ccaused profound offence to the community\u201d in his Stirling and Strathallan constituency.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo describe the Dunblane tragedy as \u2018one murder\u2019 diminishes what happened to 16 children and their teacher, and the suffering of everyone whose lives were changed forever in March 1996,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n