Rupert Lowe described the Dunblane shooting as "one murder" during an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast. He repeated the wording after saying the UK handgun ban followed "there was a murder in Dunblane".
The comments landed against the memory of the 13 March 1996 attack, when Thomas Hamilton entered the gym of Dunblane's primary school and murdered 16 children and their teacher Gwen Mayor. Another 12 children and 3 adults were shot or injured.
Joe Rogan podcast exchange
Joe Rogan drew out Lowe's argument about the handgun ban, and Lowe repeated that the shooting amounted to "one murder". Lowe is the leader of Restore Britain and the MP for Great Yarmouth.
The exchange went to the core of the dispute over how the tragedy is described. Lowe's wording placed the Dunblane school shooting inside a debate about firearms law, while the facts of the attack remain fixed at 16 children and their teacher killed.
Stephen Kerr on Dunblane
Stephen Kerr said Lowe's comments were "astonishingly insensitive and profoundly disrespectful to the victims of Dunblane". He added: "To describe Dunblane as 'one murder' is not simply inaccurate – it diminishes one of the darkest days in Scotland's modern history."
Kerr also said: "There is no excuse for reducing the murder of 16 children and their teacher to 'one murder'." He called for Lowe to withdraw the remarks and apologise.
Keith Brown response
Keith Brown called Lowe "a stain on our politics" and described the comments as "beyond despicable". The criticism followed a line that many readers in Scotland will hear as a direct reduction of the scale of the attack.
The Snowdrop campaign followed the 1996 shooting and led to the UK enforcing some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world. Lowe's remarks have now put that history back at the centre of public debate, with pressure on him to respond to the criticism he has already drawn.
