Snowdrop Petition
Encyclopedia
The Snowdrop Campaign was founded after the Dunblane Massacre
in March 1996 to call for a total ban on the private ownership and use of handgun
s in the United Kingdom
. Founded by friends of the bereaved families and so called because March is snowdrop
time in Scotland
, it gained over 750,000 signatures to a petition in 6 weeks.
Following presentation of the petition and a speech by one of the founders, Ann Pearston, to the 1996 Labour Party
conference, the new Labour
government of Tony Blair
introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
, which banned private ownership of handguns.
The petition was also one of the first campaigns to make extensive use of the internet
for distributing material. Extensive use of the then relatively new medium of email
allowed the petition to be rapidly distributed as a Word
document widely across the UK. Because of slight differences in the layout of the internet and photocopied forms used the organisers were able to estimate that between a quarter and a third of all forms had been sent by email at some point.
Dunblane massacre
The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide.-Timeline of events:...
in March 1996 to call for a total ban on the private ownership and use of handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Founded by friends of the bereaved families and so called because March is snowdrop
Snowdrop
Galanthus is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae...
time in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, it gained over 750,000 signatures to a petition in 6 weeks.
Following presentation of the petition and a speech by one of the founders, Ann Pearston, to the 1996 Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
conference, the new Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
-Reaction to the ban:The pistol ban makes very few exceptions for people to own a cartridge handgun legally. This has resulted in the near complete cessation of recreational and competitive target shooting with handguns in Great Britain; Britons who wish to participate in these activities must now...
, which banned private ownership of handguns.
The petition was also one of the first campaigns to make extensive use of the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for distributing material. Extensive use of the then relatively new medium of email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
allowed the petition to be rapidly distributed as a Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
document widely across the UK. Because of slight differences in the layout of the internet and photocopied forms used the organisers were able to estimate that between a quarter and a third of all forms had been sent by email at some point.