What did Prince Philip say?
UK Mail - London
Australasian edition
23-29 December 1996
Asked by sports presenter Rob Bonnet for his views on the Firearms Bill (UK) currently going through Parliament which will ban 160,000 handguns over .22 calibre, he (Prince Philip) said, "I can't believe that members of shooting clubs are any more dangerous than members of a squash club or a golf club or anything else. I mean, they're perfectly reasonable people, like the great majority of people in this country."
"I sympathise desperately with the people who are bereaved at Dunblane, but I'm not altogether convinced that it's the best system to somehow shift the blame on to a very large part and peaceable part of the community, in a sense, in trying to make yourself feel better."
"I can understand the fury and unhappiness. But I mean, these are sensible people who belong to these clubs."
"..there are always going to be unstable people who are going to do monstrous things. But I don't think that it helps by taking it out on the rest of the population"
"The new legislation would not prevent guns getting into the hands of the criminals - if it's illegal, it means you shouldn't be doing it. But you've got to police that. It's no good just saying you can't do it. You actually have to police it."
There was some support for his views.
A Radio 5 Live Poll found 68 percent (2,784 callers) agreed with the Duke's comments that a complete ban on handguns was an over-reaction to Dunblane.
Philip also won support of three-to-one among 10,000 GMTV viewers who called television hotlines.
A Sky News poll of over 7,000 viewers came out more than two-to-one in agreement with the Duke.
Edited version
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