Rupert Lowe has sparked outrage after incorrectly claiming there was just “one murder” during the Dunblane massacre.
The Restore Britain leader told Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster, that handguns in the UK were banned “because there was a murder up in Dunblane”.
Mr Rogan asks the Great Yarmouth MP: “One murder?,” before Mr Lower replies: “One murder.”
Sixteen children aged five and six and their teacher were killed by Thomas Hamilton at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996.
Another 15 children and three adults were injured before Hamilton killed himself.
The tragedy remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history and led to major reform of the UK’s gun laws.
Mr Lowe’s comments prompted backlash, with Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr describing them as “shocking”.
He said: “One murder? Sixteen kids and their teacher were murdered. Fifteen other primary school children were wounded.
“My children’s school, about 15 minutes from Dunblane, was locked down that day. They’ll never forget being kept in the gym hall until everyone learned the gunman was dead.
“They’ll never forget the teachers trying to hold themselves together while reassuring frightened children.
“To reduce that atrocity to ‘one murder’ is deeply insulting. It wasn’t a single murder. It was a mass murder. In a primary school.
“Almost as disturbing was the tone – one of disbelief, even mockery, that anyone could respond by tightening gun laws.
“This wasn’t some obscure historical event. It happened in 1996, when Lowe was 38 years old.
“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.”
Mr Lowe made the comments as he gave his opinion to Mr Rogan on why the UK has strict gun laws.
“Effectively, they are trying to make that very difficult through the licensing laws for guns,” he said.
Read More
“My father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he’s dead now, bless him, but all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University. I mean, we now have a society which needs radical change.”
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane SNP MSP Keith Brown said: “Rupert 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.
“Despite these hideous remarks from Rupert Lowe, the Snowdrop Campaign that followed that terrible day ensured a ban on the private ownership of most handguns – that is the proud legacy of the bereaved families and the local community.
“Their 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.”
Labour MP Chris Kane raised a point of order in the House of Commons, telling MPs Mr Lowe’s comments had “caused profound offence to the community” in his Stirling and Strathallan constituency.
“To describe the Dunblane tragedy as ‘one murder’ diminishes what happened to 16 children and their teacher, and the suffering of everyone whose lives were changed forever in March 1996,” he said.
“The people of Dunblane responded not with division but with dignity, compassion and a determination that no other community should endure such horror.
“It is because of their courage and the united action of this House that this country has some of the strongest firearms laws in the world, and an ongoing cross-party approach to ensuring these protections will not be weakened.”
The Dunblane massacre shocked the nation and led to the UK enforcing some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world.
In the wake of outrage and anti-gun campaigning after the atrocity, a ban on most handguns was introduced by John Major’s Conservative government in 1997.
Later that year, legislation widening the ban to include all cartridge ammunition handguns was introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour government.
A Restore Britain spokesman said: “Rupert was clearly referring to one incident.”