Shadow minister sparks outrage over gun lessons comments
The Tory spokesman on homeland security has caused a row by suggesting that children should be given lessons in how to use guns.
Patrick Mercer described the handgun ban brought in after the Dunblane massacre as shortsighted and likened it to outlawing cars because of deaths caused by road accidents.
Mr Mercer made the comments during a fringe meeting of the Conservative Way Forward group at the party’s spring conference over the weekend.
“It is so much more sensible in my view to train children to handle and have a respect for weapons than simply to ban them,” he said.
Families affected by the Dunblane tragedy and other MPs have poured scorn on Mr Mercer’s remarks and called for him to be sacked from the shadow Cabinet.
Sixteen children and their teacher died in the 1996 shooting at the primary school in Dunblane. The tragedy led to a ban on handguns.
Conservative Central Office referred calls on the matter directly to Mr Mercer. The MP for Newark claimed that he had been taken out of context and said he had been arguing that in rural constituencies guns were necessary and people should not be issued with them unless they had been taught how to use them properly.
John Swinney, the SNP leader, said: “His comments are utterly offensive and just plain wrong. The Conservative leadership should remove this man from any position of responsibility and apologise immediately.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Banning handguns is one of the achievements of which we are most proud. Everyone in Scotland needs to know that the Tories want to turn the clock back.”
Mr Mercer, a former colonel who served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was elected to the House of Commons in 2001.
Steve McCabe, a Labour MP, has warned that gun clubs with falling memberships were trying to attract children with offers of free shooting days and has called for the legal age at which young people can handle guns to be raised to 18.
