THE leader of the far-right Restore Britain party has been condemned after saying the Dunblane massacre was just “one murder”.
Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, made the comments on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
The claim came after Rogan started complaining about the lack of guns in the UK.
Lowe then said: “They don’t want the public to have guns. As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane.”
Rogan then asked: “One murder?”
Lowe said: “One murder.”
He went on: “So everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he’s dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols taken away.”
But the comments have sparked anger given the Dunblane Massacre – the deadliest mass shooting in UK history – actually involved the murder of 16 children and a teacher.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown, who is also the MSP for Dunblane, said Lowe's comments were "beyond despicable".
Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said they were "appalling and insensitive comments". "I'm glad we banned handguns after Dunblane so others don't have to live through what so many families had to endure," he added.
Thomas Heald, a local councillor in Dunblane, described the comments as "appalling and extremely callous".
He added on Twitter/X: "Rupert Lowe should be thoroughly ashamed. He should maybe take some time to visit Dunblane and see for himself what the community here has chosen to remember those lost on that day."
Stephen Kerr, whose children went to school close to Dunblane, also blasted Lowe.
“Rupert Lowe’s comments are astonishingly insensitive and profoundly disrespectful to the victims of Dunblane, their families and everyone in Scotland who remembers that horrific day,” the Tory MSP said.
“To describe Dunblane as ‘one murder’ is not simply inaccurate – it diminishes one of the darkest days in Scotland’s modern history. Sixteen children and their teacher were murdered, and fifteen other primary school children were wounded.”
SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter added: "This is actually horrific to hear. Deeply disturbing from an MP."
Kenny Ross, who lost his five year old daughter Joanna that day, told LBC: "Thirty years have passed and people forget what we had to go through and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. It's people like him that are very ignorant and selfish."
In the wake of the massacre, the Snowdrop Petition campaign, set up by a group of parents from the Dunblane area, gathered more than 700,000 signatures backing a ban on the private ownership of handguns.
Following outrage and anti-gun campaigning, a ban on most handguns was introduced in 1997 by John Major’s Conservative government.
Later that year, legislation widening the ban to include all cartridge ammunition handguns was introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour government.
Restore Britain have been approached for comment.
