THE ORGANISER of the 750,000 signature Dunblane Snowdrop petition yesterday made a moving plea to the Labour Party not to stop short of a complete ban on handguns.
Ms Ann Pearston's speech to the Labour conference in Blackpool was greeted by a standing ovation, followed by the entire conference standing in silence in memory of the 16 children killed by Thomas Hamilton at Dunblane Primary School last March. Some delegates were wiping tears from their eyes.
"The only reason I am speaking to you is because the pistol that Thomas Hamilton used on his victims was legal," Ms Pearston told the conference.
"No action was taken against handguns after Hungerford despite the fact that nine of Ryan's victims were killed with a legally held pistol. Why not? Because the gun lobby fought tooth and nail to preserve the long established sport of target shooting. This sport allows people like Hamilton easy access to guns."
She said that those who survived include a child who lost the sight of one eye, a child now in a wheelchair with a shattered sciatic nerve, a child and a gym teacher each with a useless hand.
"We must shut the door on public safety tight - so that it can't be pushed wider by the very powerful gun lobby in years to come", Ms Pearston said.
Earlier, the party's home affairs spokesman, Mr Jack Straw, said Britain's streets could become as "mean" as America's unless Labour tackled crime and the inequalities that spawned it.
"We cannot have a society which values the right of civilians to own a handgun more than that of a child to a future", Mr Straw said to loud applause.
He said a Labour government would make sweeping changes to Britain's gun laws to avert a repeat of the Dunblane massacre.
On drugs, Mr Straw pledged to make addicts undergo treatment and random drug tests in an effort to break the link with crime.