Rupert Lowe, leader of the political movement Restore Britain, is facing widespread calls for an apology after he controversially described the 1996 Dunblane school shooting as “one murder” during an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.
Lowe’s remarks came as he criticized the UK’s ban on handguns, stating that the prohibition was enacted after “there was a murder in Dunblane.” Host Joe Rogan sought clarification, asking if the ban was due to “one murder,” to which Lowe affirmed this was the case.
The Dunblane tragedy, which occurred on 13 March 1996 at Dunblane Primary School, was one of the UK’s worst gun atrocities. Gunman Thomas Hamilton entered the gym hall, murdering 16 children and their teacher, Gwen Mayor. Another 12 children and three adults were shot or injured during the attack, which lasted less than four minutes before Hamilton took his own life. All but two of the child victims were aged just five and six years old. Hamilton had used four legally-owned handguns and 743 rounds of ammunition.
The devastating event led to the formation of the Snowdrop Campaign by grieving families, which successfully pushed for some of the world’s strictest firearms laws in the UK, including a ban on the private ownership of most handguns.
Kenny Ross, whose daughter Joanna was among the pupils killed, expressed his lack of surprise at the “ignorance of some people” regarding the shooting. He told BBC Scotland News that individuals like Lowe “don’t realise how devastating it was,” emphasizing that “now we have a safer society because there is no longer private gun ownership.” Ross added, “Thirty years have passed and people forget what we had to go through. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that. It’s people like him that are very ignorant and selfish.”
Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr, representing Mid Scotland & Fife, condemned Lowe’s comments as “astonishingly insensitive and profoundly disrespectful to the victims.” Kerr stated that reducing the murder of 16 children and their teacher to “one murder” is not only inaccurate but also “diminishes one of the darkest days in Scotland’s modern history.” He criticized the “casual” and “ignorant” manner in which Lowe spoke about the mass murder, calling it “callous and indefensible” for an event that “changed Scotland forever” and “still causes such profound pain.”
Local MSP Keith Brown echoed these sentiments, describing Lowe’s comments as “beyond despicable” and labeling the MP “a stain on our politics.” Brown reiterated the toll of the tragedy, noting that “Sixteen children and a teacher were shot dead while 15 more children were wounded,” and highlighted that “Despite these hideous remarks from Rupert Lowe, the Snowdrop Campaign that followed ensured a ban on the private ownership of most handguns. That is the proud legacy of the bereaved families and the local community.”
Lowe, who is the MP for Great Yarmouth, mentioned that his father’s pistols were confiscated following the Dunblane shooting. He advocated for “radical change” in UK society and a need to “release the individual.”
Restore Britain, founded by Lowe as a “political movement,” was established after he was suspended from Reform UK in March last year. His suspension stemmed from allegations of making threats of physical violence against then-party chairman Zia Yusuf, though the Crown Prosecution Service later determined there was insufficient evidence for a “realistic prospect of conviction.”
A spokesperson for Restore Britain offered a brief clarification, stating: “Rupert was clearly referring to one incident.”
