MrPlutonium
04-13-2009, 03:45 AM
Hey guys I was just browsing some websites instead of doing a paper as usual and I stumbled upon this article from back in '97. I was looking for holsters for my 1911 and I found this instead and thought it was a pretty interesting read. Considering the age of the article, I apologize if you guys have read this already but here it is. Just wondering what you guys thought.
http://www.holsters.org/dunblane.htm
I am often asked by members of the shooting fraternity what incident could possibly have prompted the British government to impose an absolute ban on the ownership of handguns by private citizens in the U.K. Events leading to that Draconian decision are largely ignored outside these isles, so this is an ideal opportunity to set the record straight.
The short answer is that it followed on the heels of a terrible occurrence at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996, when a deranged individual, armed with several handguns, deliberately massacred a roomful of innocent children and some of their teachers.
It is not my intention to examine the reasons that led up to that incident, or attempt to explain why it ever took place; that is reserved for individuals more qualified and knowledgeable than myself. However, it is my fervent hope that by relating the chain of events as they happened and by examining the results of their aftermath, good sense and reason may prevent such an horrendous event from ever taking place again elsewhere in the world.
The morning of March 13, 1996, started cold. At around 8.30 am, forty-four year old balding, bespectacled Thomas Hamilton was observed by a neighbour scraping ice off his white van, parked outside his home at Kent Road, Stirling, in Central Scotland. A short while later, he got into the van and drove off towards the town of Dunblane, some seven miles away.
Unknown to the neighbour -- and to anyone else, for that matter – he had with him two Browning automatic pistols and two Smith & Wesson revolvers. He had previously applied for and been granted a firearm certificate, which meant that he held all four weapons legally. He also had a total of 501 rounds of 9mm ammunition in various magazines (including 25 extended 20-round magazines), plus 230 rounds of .357 magnum, not including the twelve chambered in the two revolvers. He was wearing four holsters and carried a large camera bag, probably to accommodate the ammunition.
At about 9.30 am he arrived at Dunblane Primary School and parked the van in the lower car park, adjacent to a telegraph pole. Taking out a pair of pliers from a toolwrap, he proceeded to cut the telephone wires at the foot of the pole. He then crossed the car park and entered the school by way of a door beside the gymnasium.
At about the same time, the twenty-eight pupils of class Primary 1/13 had already changed for their gym lesson and were leaving assembly along with their teacher, Mrs. Owen Mayor. Twenty-five of the children were just five years of age, the remaining three were six. On their way to the gymnasium, they unwittingly passed the entrance that Hamilton had just used to gain access to the school.
Mrs. Eileen Harrild, a physical education teacher, together with a supervisory assistant Mrs. Mary Blake, were already at the gym. Mrs. Harrild was about to address the waiting class when she heard a loud noise behind her that made her turn around. It was the sound of Hamilton firing two shots into the stage of the assembly hall outside the gym -- probably from frustration at finding it empty.
Pistol in hand and dressed in a dark jacket, black corduroy trousers and a woolly hat with ear defenders, he then entered the gym. From his position by the door he opened fire indiscriminately, loosing off a total of 29 shots in rapid succession. He killed one child outright and injured several others. Mrs. Harrild was hit in both forearms, in the right hand and the left breast. Despite her wounds, she managed to stumble into an open-plan storage area which adjoined the gym, followed by a number of children. Mrs. Mayor was shot several times and died instantly. Mrs. Blake was also shot, but she too managed to reach the storage area, pushing some children in ahead of her. Here they tried to calm and console the terrified, wounded children who cowered helplessly on the floor in pools of blood, all the while hearing the screams and moans of their classmates in the gym. Undeterred, Hamilton continued with his trail of carnage. He fired another 30 shots, 16 of them at point blank range while standing over a group of children who had been disabled by the firing or who had been thrown to the floor.
Meanwhile, a child from class Primary 7 had a lucky escape. Sent on an errand by his teacher, he was walking along the west side of the gym when he heard loud bangs and screaming. Stopping to investigate, he looked in and saw the shooting in progress. Hamilton took a shot at him and missed. The child was struck by flying glass but, fortunately, managed to run off.
Hamilton then moved to the opposite end of the gym from which he had entered and fired a further 24 rounds in various directions. He shot through a window at what may have been an adult walking across the playground and then, opening a fire escape door, discharged a further four shots in the same direction.
Going outside this same door, he fired four more shots at the library cloakroom, striking a member of staff, Mrs. Grace Tweddle, a glancing blow on the head. At the time, Mrs. Catherine Cordon was teaching her class Primary 7 in hut number 7, the classroom closest to the fire escape. On hearing firing from that direction, she ordered her class to get down on the floor. Hamilton fired 9 shots into the classroom. Most of the projectiles were later found embedded in books and equipment. One passed through the back of a chair which seconds before had been used by a child!
Hamilton now re-entered the gym, where he continued shooting. Finally, he relinquished the autoloader and drew one of the two revolvers. Placing the muzzle in his mouth, pointing upward, he pulled the trigger.
Mrs. Mayor and 15 children lay dead in the gym. A sixteenth child, grievously wounded, was found to be dead on arrival at Stirling Royal Infirmary. They had sustained a total of 58 gunshot wounds, 26 of these being of such a nature that they, individually, would have proved fatal. Additionally, 10 other pupils from the class and 3 members of teaching staff suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds. 6 of these were deemed very serious, 4 serious and 3 minor. Thomas Hamilton managed to create a scene of unimaginable carnage in just 3 or 4 minutes. He'd fired a total of 105 rounds of 9mm ammunition from a Browning automatic pistol before using one shot from a Smith & Wesson revolver to end his own miserable life.
http://www.holsters.org/dunblane.htm
I am often asked by members of the shooting fraternity what incident could possibly have prompted the British government to impose an absolute ban on the ownership of handguns by private citizens in the U.K. Events leading to that Draconian decision are largely ignored outside these isles, so this is an ideal opportunity to set the record straight.
The short answer is that it followed on the heels of a terrible occurrence at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996, when a deranged individual, armed with several handguns, deliberately massacred a roomful of innocent children and some of their teachers.
It is not my intention to examine the reasons that led up to that incident, or attempt to explain why it ever took place; that is reserved for individuals more qualified and knowledgeable than myself. However, it is my fervent hope that by relating the chain of events as they happened and by examining the results of their aftermath, good sense and reason may prevent such an horrendous event from ever taking place again elsewhere in the world.
The morning of March 13, 1996, started cold. At around 8.30 am, forty-four year old balding, bespectacled Thomas Hamilton was observed by a neighbour scraping ice off his white van, parked outside his home at Kent Road, Stirling, in Central Scotland. A short while later, he got into the van and drove off towards the town of Dunblane, some seven miles away.
Unknown to the neighbour -- and to anyone else, for that matter – he had with him two Browning automatic pistols and two Smith & Wesson revolvers. He had previously applied for and been granted a firearm certificate, which meant that he held all four weapons legally. He also had a total of 501 rounds of 9mm ammunition in various magazines (including 25 extended 20-round magazines), plus 230 rounds of .357 magnum, not including the twelve chambered in the two revolvers. He was wearing four holsters and carried a large camera bag, probably to accommodate the ammunition.
At about 9.30 am he arrived at Dunblane Primary School and parked the van in the lower car park, adjacent to a telegraph pole. Taking out a pair of pliers from a toolwrap, he proceeded to cut the telephone wires at the foot of the pole. He then crossed the car park and entered the school by way of a door beside the gymnasium.
At about the same time, the twenty-eight pupils of class Primary 1/13 had already changed for their gym lesson and were leaving assembly along with their teacher, Mrs. Owen Mayor. Twenty-five of the children were just five years of age, the remaining three were six. On their way to the gymnasium, they unwittingly passed the entrance that Hamilton had just used to gain access to the school.
Mrs. Eileen Harrild, a physical education teacher, together with a supervisory assistant Mrs. Mary Blake, were already at the gym. Mrs. Harrild was about to address the waiting class when she heard a loud noise behind her that made her turn around. It was the sound of Hamilton firing two shots into the stage of the assembly hall outside the gym -- probably from frustration at finding it empty.
Pistol in hand and dressed in a dark jacket, black corduroy trousers and a woolly hat with ear defenders, he then entered the gym. From his position by the door he opened fire indiscriminately, loosing off a total of 29 shots in rapid succession. He killed one child outright and injured several others. Mrs. Harrild was hit in both forearms, in the right hand and the left breast. Despite her wounds, she managed to stumble into an open-plan storage area which adjoined the gym, followed by a number of children. Mrs. Mayor was shot several times and died instantly. Mrs. Blake was also shot, but she too managed to reach the storage area, pushing some children in ahead of her. Here they tried to calm and console the terrified, wounded children who cowered helplessly on the floor in pools of blood, all the while hearing the screams and moans of their classmates in the gym. Undeterred, Hamilton continued with his trail of carnage. He fired another 30 shots, 16 of them at point blank range while standing over a group of children who had been disabled by the firing or who had been thrown to the floor.
Meanwhile, a child from class Primary 7 had a lucky escape. Sent on an errand by his teacher, he was walking along the west side of the gym when he heard loud bangs and screaming. Stopping to investigate, he looked in and saw the shooting in progress. Hamilton took a shot at him and missed. The child was struck by flying glass but, fortunately, managed to run off.
Hamilton then moved to the opposite end of the gym from which he had entered and fired a further 24 rounds in various directions. He shot through a window at what may have been an adult walking across the playground and then, opening a fire escape door, discharged a further four shots in the same direction.
Going outside this same door, he fired four more shots at the library cloakroom, striking a member of staff, Mrs. Grace Tweddle, a glancing blow on the head. At the time, Mrs. Catherine Cordon was teaching her class Primary 7 in hut number 7, the classroom closest to the fire escape. On hearing firing from that direction, she ordered her class to get down on the floor. Hamilton fired 9 shots into the classroom. Most of the projectiles were later found embedded in books and equipment. One passed through the back of a chair which seconds before had been used by a child!
Hamilton now re-entered the gym, where he continued shooting. Finally, he relinquished the autoloader and drew one of the two revolvers. Placing the muzzle in his mouth, pointing upward, he pulled the trigger.
Mrs. Mayor and 15 children lay dead in the gym. A sixteenth child, grievously wounded, was found to be dead on arrival at Stirling Royal Infirmary. They had sustained a total of 58 gunshot wounds, 26 of these being of such a nature that they, individually, would have proved fatal. Additionally, 10 other pupils from the class and 3 members of teaching staff suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds. 6 of these were deemed very serious, 4 serious and 3 minor. Thomas Hamilton managed to create a scene of unimaginable carnage in just 3 or 4 minutes. He'd fired a total of 105 rounds of 9mm ammunition from a Browning automatic pistol before using one shot from a Smith & Wesson revolver to end his own miserable life.