We must not allow US-style toxic gun culture in Scotland

Sunday Mail opinion says new statutory guidance announced by the Home Office earlier this month will force even tighter controls on firearms licensing to keep people safe and help the police apply the law consistently.

We must not allow a toxic gun culture

America has the highest firearm ownership in the world, a huge gun culture and one of the worst shooting death tolls.

The UK by contrast has some of the strictest gun legislation in the world and shootings are relatively rare.

That is in no small part thanks to the dignified determination of the Dunblane families and thousands of ordinary people, including Sunday Mail readers, who backed the Snowdrop campaign.

The campaign fought to ban handguns in the wake of the 1996 tragedy which shocked the world and left 16 schoolchildren and their teacher dead.

New statutory guidance announced by the Home Office earlier this month will force even tighter controls on firearms licensing to keep people safe and help the police apply the law consistently.

However, families who lost loved ones are now concerned with a spike in the popularity of “practical shooting” and toxic US-style gun clubs.

It is hard not to understand their worries when footage shows participants whipping handguns from holsters to blast human- shaped cutouts.

Jack Crozier, whose sister Emma was tragically killed at the primary school, believes it is glamorising guns and that the people in charge of the clubs are wilfully ignoring the dangers of the culture they are promoting.

The Gun Control Network has also warned gun licensing rules are not strong enough. It appears that practical shooting ranges are escaping the same scrutiny as other gun clubs because of the type of weapons used, despite the fact they can still be deadly.

As the battle against gun violence evolves we must ensure our regulatory landscape is not unwittingly facilitating a drift towards a more Americanised gun culture.

Complacency raises the risk of more children being killed and more families being left to suffer.

That should not and cannot be allowed to happen.

We owe it to all of those who lost their lives and to the loved ones they left behind to keep Scotland, as far as possible, a gun-free zone.

Zen and Tom looking sweet

Spider-Man star Zendaya must have thought she was still in sunny California when she stopped off in Inverness for an ice-cream.

The actress treated herself to a three-scoop tub of mint, butterscotch, and stracciatella with fiance Tom Holland.

Luckily their relationship hasn’t cooled and the couple remain tangled in a web of love.