Fury as Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'

The leader of the far-right Restore Britain party has sparked fury after describing the 1996 Dunblane massacre as "one murder".

MP Rupert Lowe made the comment during an appearance on popular US podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, drawing criticism from the family of one of the children killed and a Scottish politician who branded it "genuinely shocking" and "deeply insulting".

MSP Stephen Kerr added: "It wasn't a single murder. It was mass murder."

On the morning of 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton entered the gymnasium of Dunblane Primary School and, over the course of several minutes, shot dead 16 children and their teacher.

A further 15 people - most of them children - were also wounded in what remains the UK's deadliest mass shooting.

Hamilton took his own life during the incident.

The Snowdrop Campaign was launched in the wake of the tragedy and led to major reform of the UK's gun laws.

A ban on most handguns was introduced by John Major's Conservative government in 1997.

Later that year, legislation widening the ban to include all cartridge ammunition handguns was introduced by Tony Blair's Labour government.

Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, made the controversial comment to American podcaster Rogan while discussing the UK's strict gun laws.

He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."

Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"

Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.

"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 were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."

Read more:
30 years on, massacre 'still haunts many'

The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.

Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.

"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.

"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."

Mr Kerr, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, also criticised Mr Lowe.

In a social media post, he said his children's school, close to Dunblane, was locked down on the day of the massacre, as it unfolded.

Mr Kerr said: "They'll never forget being kept in the gym hall until everyone learned the gunman was dead.

"They'll never forget the teachers trying to hold themselves together while reassuring frightened children. To reduce that atrocity to 'one murder' is deeply insulting.

"It wasn't a single murder. It was a mass murder. In a primary school."

"Almost as disturbing was the tone - one of disbelief, even mockery, that anyone could respond by tightening gun laws," Mr Kerr added.

"This wasn't some obscure historical event. It happened in 1996, when Lowe was 38 years old. He should have known what happened on that terrifying day in Dunblane.

"For anyone who remembers that day, hearing it dismissed so casually is genuinely shocking."

Mr Lowe was contacted for comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: Fury as Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'