Nigel Farage has called for firearm laws to be relaxed, describing the current ban on handguns as "ludicrous". The Ukip leader criticised what he termed the "kneejerk" restrictions imposed after the 1996 Dunblane massacre, in which Thomas Hamilton killed 16 schoolchildren and a teacher before taking his own life.
The laws were initially introduced by Sir John Major's Conservative government and extended to a total ban by Tony Blair's Labour administration in 1997. Farage argued that proper gun licensing has been conducted responsibly in the UK for a long time and that the ban forces Olympic pistol shooters to train abroad. He also claimed that gun crime doubled in the five years following the ban.
Labour MP Ian Mearns described Farage's comments as an example of "how extremely dangerous Ukip are", adding that families facing a cost-of-living crisis would find it bizarre that relaxing gun controls is a priority. The remarks come amid controversy over Ukip's 2010 election policies, which Farage has now disowned as "drivel".
Farage stated he had never read the 486-page policy document, which included plans to repaint trains, introduce taxi driver uniforms, and ban offshore windfarms. He blamed the document on former policy chief David Campbell Bannerman, now a Conservative MEP. However, footage emerged of Farage launching the manifesto in 2010, and he co-authored a 16-page summary that has since disappeared from Ukip's website.
