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Before we move to First Minister’s question time, I invite the First Minister to make some remarks on the 30th anniversary of the Dunblane shootings.
12:00
Thirty years ago tomorrow, primary school teacher Gwen Mayor took her pupils into the gym hall at Dunblane primary school. Shortly afterwards, a gunman entered. What followed was the deadliest and most horrific mass shooting in the United Kingdom’s history. Along with Gwen Mayor, who died valiantly trying to protect her pupils, 16 children lost their lives and 15 others were injured.
I, like everyone who lived through that moment, will never forget that day. On the same day that parents faced the unbearable loss of their children, my eldest son was born. I remember the preciousness of my son’s birth and could not begin to imagine—that day, or any day since—the sense of loss faced by those families.
In the months that followed, grief-stricken parents and residents of Dunblane decided that they would not let such tragedies happen again. They collected 750,000 signatures in their campaign to change UK gun laws. In November 1997, handguns became illegal in the United Kingdom. Scotland has not seen a mass shooting since.
My thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go out to everyone who was impacted by that terrible tragedy. My most heartfelt thanks go to all who took action to ensure that such a tragedy might never happen again.
In the intervening years, the community of Dunblane has demonstrated such strength and resilience, and the power of community, solidarity and love in Scotland. It has the respect and admiration of us all.
12:02
There is a photo of the primary 1 class at Dunblane primary school in 1996, and it is a picture of pure childhood innocence. It features teacher Gwen Mayor beaming with pride and cheeky wee smiles on the faces of her young pupils.
On 13 March, 1996, they were visited by evil. After three minutes of gunfire, Gwen and 16 of her pupils lay dead. I remember—we all remember—where we were on that spring day. News bulletins stopped us in our tracks. How could any parent bear the endless agony of such loss?
Dunblane became synonymous with tragedy, but the town’s tears of sorrow turned to anger and then to action. Parents, politicians and ordinary folk from across Britain demanded that there never be another Dunblane, and they meant it. Handguns were banned; lives were saved; and they continue to be saved.
12:03
Tomorrow marks 30 years since the Dunblane tragedy—a day that will be forever etched in our memories. Sixteen children and a teacher went to school that day but did not make it home, because of the actions of an evil man. However, it is not that evil man we should remember, but the beautiful faces of those innocent children, their brave teacher, the families left grieving for ever and all the incredible individuals who helped to pull that community together at the hardest of times.
It was right to take action to ban handguns, but we must ensure that our laws are robust for the challenges and technological advancements of today. Of course, we carry the profound sorrow of the Dunblane families in our hearts, but we should also think of the children who, although they survived that day, have lived with the grief and trauma ever since. We pay tribute to the inspiring resilience of the community that raised and loved them. We will remember them for ever.
12:05
Thirty years ago tomorrow, 16 primary 1s and their teacher went to school and did not come home. Fifteen more were injured. Those children would have been the same age as me.
When the news came over the radio, my mum was in hospital, having just given birth to my brother. The panic across central Scotland was real. She always told us how her relief at me being safe was immediately dashed by the realisation that others did not have the same fate. Their hopes and dreams were never realised.
No words can do real justice to the pain and grief of the families who never got to see their babies grow up. My thoughts, and those of the Scottish Greens, go to all those who are affected.
We were proud to take action on a cross-party basis to tackle the ownership of handguns. As parliamentarians, we have to strive to make sure that what happened that day can never happen again.
12:05
This week, our hearts are with the people of Dunblane and, in particular, the families of the 16 children and their teacher who were lost to us that day. Thirty years on, many of those children might have been parents themselves by now, but the gunshots of a madman cut short the promise of those young lives. They brought a nation to grief and a Parliament to action, causing it to ban for ever the domestic ownership of handguns and, by so doing, prevent the likelihood of the repetition of such a tragedy.
This year, and every year, we remember the trauma of Dunblane and the shadow that it still casts across our national story.
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