MURRAY FOOTE: Dunblane tragedy reminds us why Scotland must resist normalising guns |
In yesterday’s Courier, columnist Jim Spence argued that all police officers should be trained and have immediate access to firearms.
He was supporting a call, from David Kennedy of the Scottish Police Federation, that if every officer had such access, then those wielding knives would be at risk of getting shot.
After reading Jim’s article, I took the dog for a walk among the abundant snowdrops springing up in blankets all around – a tangible reminder of the changing seasons.
But to generations of Scots, these delicate white flowers will forever be a poignant reminder of one of our darkest days.
On March 13 1996, evil visited Dunblane when 16 primary one pupils and their teacher were shot dead by a gunman whose name deserves never to be repeated.
The kids were barely more than infants when their lives were ended in the most unspeakable horror.
Next month brings the 30th anniversary of what remains the worst mass shooting in our history.
Fifteen other classmates were also shot. They were lucky, even if it is incongruous to describe them like that when they’ve lived with the trauma ever since.
Something truly good sprang from Dunblane tragedy
Yet from that horror sprang something truly good.
While still grieving their lost sons and daughters, the families of the murdered classmates campaigned with a dignified determination to prevent such horror from visiting another class of beloved children.
Their stoicism led to the Snowdrop Petition, a campaign which changed the law to prohibit the private ownership of most handguns.
Thankfully, the Snowdrop Petition continues to deliver on its noble intentions and Scotland has been spared another similar atrocity.
On each anniversary, the memory of that day returns to my mind, and three particular moments induce shivers.
The first was the ashen face of a newspaper colleague whose children were Dunblane Primary pupils.
I cannot imagine the anguish of that journey from office to his hometown, filled with dread of what news awaited him.
He told me later of the interminable moments waiting with his wife to be told if their children were alive or dead.
He told me of his relief when he knew they were safe – and his guilt when other parents were given the worst news imaginable.
The second was a report filed by journalists who had spoken with the ambulance crews who were among the first people to enter the gym hall, the scene of the tragedy.
Much of the testimony of those first responders was too horrific to publish. I read the raw, unedited report in horrified silence while many colleagues sobbed and wept openly.
Their children may have wondered why they were hugged especially tightly when their parents got home that night.
The third, and most emotional, was the class picture of infant teacher Gwen Mayor – herself a mother of two – and the beaming smiles of 28 innocents commemorating the start of their school lives.
Every family in Scotland has that same picture. It’s the picture my mother keeps of me with Ms Smith and my new classmates at Downfield Primary.
It’s the picture that The Courier publishes of every primary one intake from every school from every year, going back generations.
But of the 29 beaming smiles captured for eternity in that Dunblane Primary photo, so many of those pictured died in a cold gym hall, the victims of a horror inflicted with guns.
Guns only beget more guns
They are 17 reasons why I cannot agree with Jim Spence and David Kennedy.
Sure, policing can often be a dangerous profession and I’m all in favour of protecting officers while they protect us.
But guns only beget more guns. There is unequivocal evidence all over the world of why we cannot allow an arms race here.
Incidences of Scottish police officers being killed in the line of duty are still mercifully rare. The last was Lewis Fulton, who was stabbed to death in 1994.
And yes, Lewis’s death is one too many. And, yes, Jim Spence made valid points, especially regarding police response times when there is a threat to life.
But I cannot accept that this justifies a greater proliferation of firearms.
Regardless of how well-intentioned, an unintended consequence would be the inescapable certainty of innocents getting caught in the crossfire.
Scotland’s gun incidents are largely confined to organised crime gangs shooting each other. They tend not to shoot non-combatants or police officers. If that changes, then, of course, we should reconsider.
But, as it stands, we must resist doing anything more than is entirely necessary.
We cannot, we must not precipitate a change that results in more guns and, as surely as night follows day, more deaths and devastation.
And we do so in the names of Victoria, Emma, Melissa, Charlotte, Kevin, Ross, David, Mhairi, Brett, Abigail, Emily, Sophie, John, Joanna, Hannah, Megan and their teacher, Gwen.