THE FAMILIES of the 16 children and one teacher murdered by Thomas Hamilton in Dunblane Primary School ten years ago yesterday lit candles in solemn memory of the victims. Britain’s criminals, on the other hand, marked the occasion as they mark every other occasion: with rounds of gunfire.

It is depressingly apt that the tenth anniversary of Dunblane should have coincided with a fatal gunfight at a Salford pub, which left two men dead and sent children playing in a nearby park running for cover.

The handgun ban introduced after Dunblane has silenced gun clubs and forced Britain’s Olympic shooters to practise overseas, but it certainly hasn’t prevented the criminal classes from arming themselves like never before.

In 1996, 7,753 crimes involving firearms were reported to police in England and Wales, and 49 homicides were committed with guns. In the last year for which figures are available, 2003-04, the corresponding figures are 24,094 crimes and 68 homicides.

Perhaps without a handgun ban, the figures would now be even higher. Then again, maybe banning handguns has driven more criminals to use knives: 237 people were knifed to death in England and Wales in 2003-04, compared with 197 in 1996. Either way, the dismal results of the handgun ban should be required reading for all politicians before they vote to ban anything.

It must have seemed tempting, in the wave of public grief that followed Dunblane, to believe that the act of outlawing weapons would reduce the propensity of the citizenry to commit foul crimes. Just look at America, implored the anti-gun lobby: that country has high gun-ownership and a high murder rate.

Conveniently, campaigners did not draw attention to Norway and Switzerland, which combine some of the highest rates of gun-owner- ship with the lowest crime rates.

I don’t like guns. To me, double-bore pistol-shooting lives up to its name. But, little though I cared for the rights of shooters and much though I sympathised with the victims of Dunblane, the evidence now points me to an obvious conclusion: that an outright ban on handguns was a pathetic gesture that has disrupted peaceful sports but done absolutely nothing to make any of us safer.