PolitiFact – Yes, the UK banned handguns after a 1996 school shooting. There have been no others since

A deadly mass shooting at a primary school in the United Kingdom spurred lawmakers there to ban private ownership of handguns nearly three decades ago.

A social media post that highlighted the U.K.’s swift response to that shooting — and emphasized that there has not been another school shooting in Britain since — was shared widely following a shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

“On March 13, 1996, a gunman murdered 16 students and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland,” read one March 29 post. “The people in the UK (Scotland, England, Wales) took action. Laws changed and certain types of guns were banned. The level of gun violence in Britain is now one of the lowest in the world. The UK has had ZERO school shootings since they changed their gun laws.”

This post and others like it echoed an open letter and video message that survivors of the Dunblane massacre sent in 2018 to students who survived the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Florida. 

“We persuaded British lawmakers not to be swayed by the vested interests of the gun lobby, we asked them to put public safety first and to heed what the majority of the British people wanted,” the letter said. “Most politicians listened and acted. Laws were changed, handguns were banned and the level of gun violence in Britain is now one of the lowest in the world. There have been no more school shootings.”

Although it was initially penned more than five years ago, the letter’s claim remains accurate. PolitiFact reviewed news reports of mass shootings in the U.K. since 1996 and consulted gun violence researchers; there has not been another school shooting. 

But experts hesitated to attribute that solely to legislative changes made after the Dunblane shooting.

The Dunblane school shooting

Twenty-seven years ago, on March 13, 1996, a gunman with four handguns entered a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire. He shot and killed a teacher and 16 children. The children were all between ages 5 and 6 years old. Fifteen other people, mostly children, were wounded. 

To date, the Dunblane massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.K.

Families of Dunblane victims and survivors advocated for stronger restrictions on gun ownership in the U.K. Their efforts spurred lawmakers to action. In 1997, the U.K. banned high-caliber handguns and, soon after, private possession of handguns.

There have been no other school shootings in the U.K. since the Dunblane attack and subsequent law changes. 

Deadly mass shootings have occurred at other U.K. locations besides schools, including:

• In 2022, a gunman opened fire at a crowded bar in Wallasey, England, on Christmas Eve, killing one person and wounding four others.

• In August 2021, a man shot and killed five people, including his mother and a 3-year-old girl, near his home in Plymouth, England.

• In January 2012, a man shot and killed three women and injured another person at a house in Horden, England. 

• In June 2010, a gunman shot and killed 12 people and injured 11 others while driving through Cumbria, England. 

(There is no widely agreed upon definition for mass shooting, so this is not a comprehensive list of all incidents that might be considered mass shootings.)

Philip Alpers, director of GunPolicy.org, a website that compiles data on gun violence and firearm laws, said the U.K. does have one of the lowest rates of gun violence globally. But he cautioned against attributing those low rates to the 1997 law change. 

“The U.K. has always had much lower rates of gun death — both gun homicide and suicide — than most other industrialized nations,” Alpers said. “But the British rate is still higher than, for example, Japan.”

Peter Squires, a gun violence researcher and professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Brighton, said that only one school shooting has occurred in the U.K., but other mass shootings have happened, “so it is conceivable that these could have involved schools if the perpetrators had gone there.” 

“It is always difficult to make the claim that essentially very rare events have been prevented by legal and policy changes,” he said. 

A deadly school shooting in the U.K. sparked a campaign that resulted in British lawmakers banning private ownership of handguns. Although it is not definitively because of the handgun ban, there has not been another school shooting since the laws were changed. 

The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate this claim Mostly True. 

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