Wednesday March 13, 1996. Just an ordinary day that started off like every other. I was in my final year of high school and just a couple of months away from leaving. Having no classes first thing in the morning I went to our common room. My first class was some time away so I had some time to chill out and, knowing me, catch up on some homework.
I probably chatted to a few folk, caught up with them, I don’t know — it was just an ordinary day. I do remember we had this old battered stereo unit someone had brought in so we could play music and on this morning the radio was on and set at our local radio station. It was really just on in the background. I was reading a newspaper someone else had left behind when there was an interruption in the broadcast.
News was coming in of an incident at a school in Dunblane. The details were sketchy but it was clear that something major had happened. A chill ran through me. Throughout the day the details would become clearer and the horror of the day would be known to all.
At just after 9:30 a.m. that day Thomas Hamilton entered the primary school armed with two 9mm Browning HP’s and two Smith and Wesson Magnum revolvers. He legally owned them all. He had 743 cartridges of ammunition with him.
In the school gymnasium 28 Primary One children were getting ready for the Physical Education class. Also present was class teacher Gwen Mayor, PE teacher Eileen Harrild and assistant Mary Blake.
At approximately 9:35 a.,m. Thomas Hamilton stepped into the gym and started shooting. He fired quickly and randomly. Eileen Harrild tried to confront him but he shot her in the chest and arms before moving on to keep shooting. Harrild managed to get into a large storage cupboard with some of the already injured children. Mary Blake was shot in the head and in both her legs though she managed to get to the storage cupboard with more of the children.
Thomas Hamilton continued shooting. He shot and killed class teacher Gwen Mayor. In a spree that lasted about five minutes he shot and killed a teacher and 15 of her pupils. Another died on the way to hospital. All the children who died were five to six years old. In their first year of school and completely innocent to whatever reason Hamilton had for shooting them.
Hamilton left the gym and shot at a mobile classroom but fortunately the teacher there, Catherine Gordon, had seen what was happening and got her Primary Seven class to take cover which saved their lives.
Hamilton would then return to the gym where he ended his own life using one of his revolvers.
In that few minutes of rage these children and their teacher were killed:
• Victoria Elizabeth Clydesdale (age 5)
• Emma Elizabeth Crozier (age 5)
• Melissa Helen Currie (age 5)
• Charlotte Louise Dunn (age 5)
• Kevin Allan Hasell (age 5)
• Ross William Irvine (age 5)
• David Charles Kerr (age 5)
• Mhairi Isabel MacBeath (age 5)
• Brett McKinnon (age 6)
• Abigail Joanne McLennan (age 5)
• Gwen Mayor (age 45) – Primary School Teacher
• Emily Morton (age 5)
• Sophie Jane Lockwood North (age 5)
• John Petrie (age 5)
• Joanna Caroline Ross (age 5)
• Hannah Louise Scott (age 5)
• Megan Turner (age 5)
Why did they die? Hamilton had history that led him to resent other people. As a Scout leader in the seventies allegations were leveled at him that he was unsuitable to lead young children. These allegations included forcing two young boys to sleep in his van with him. His moral intentions towards the boys was questioned and in 1974 he had his Scout Warrant removed and was blacklisted but the Association. This didn’t stop him trying to become a Scout leader in Clackmannanshire a while later but he was unsuccessful in this attempt.
Over the years Hamilton tried to open up boys clubs in the area but mostly they failed. This caused Hamilton to begin to petition local MPs and councillors. He claimed he was being blocked unfairly by the police and by the scout association.
Around the area where he lived he was known as Mr Creepy and rarely spoke to any of his neighbours. Many regarded him as a pervert and in 1993 he complained that local rumour had seen the failure of a shop he tried to open. He wrote many letters too many people including the Queen about how he felt he was being treated in the local community. He very much resented the local people.
No one will truly know the reason why Thomas Hamilton walked into the gymnasium of Dunblane Primary School on the morning of March 13, 1996 and chose to shoot to kill as many children and adults as he could. He ended his own life that day as well.
The United Kingdom has only experienced a very small amount of incidents like Dunblane. On August 19, 1987, a town in Berkshire called Hungerford was subjected to the terror when Michael Ryan spent the afternoon shooting in random locations killing 16 people, including his own mother. He then shot himself dead. It remain unclear as to why Ryan went on his spree.
Following the Dunblane massacre an inquiry recommended that the government of the UK should tighten controls on handgun ownership.
A petition named the Snowdrop Petition was started by friends of the bereaved families in Dunblane. Its aim was to ban private gun ownership. That petition alone attracted 705,000 signatures. Some newspapers also ran petitions. All of this started a public debate about the ownership of gun in Britain.
In 1997 the Conservative government of the time, headed by John Major, brought in the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 which mean that in Scotland, England and Wales all cartridge ammunition handguns were banned except for .22 calibre single shot weapons.
However, the general election in the same year brought in new government of Labour, led by Tony Blair. They would over the Firearms (Amendment) (No.2) Act 1997 which banned .22 calibres in Scotland, England and Wales.
Across the country schools tightened up their security with many introducing door entry systems meaning that people could no longer simple walk into a school.
The Dunblane massacre shook everyone. Everyone felt something change that day, like an innocence being taken away. This Sunday we mourn once again for the 16 children and their teacher who died for no reason, who were just going about their normal lives. Those children who had their whole lives in front of them, cut short by a man with a grudge.
