Play all audios:
The former Tory Party chairman also warned Britain faces another school massacre unless spiralling crime stemmed by anti-social behaviour is tackled. Last week, the Scottish Sunday Express
told how the peer’s comments had angered the community in Dunblane, Perthshire, which mourned the loss of 16 children and their teacher in 1996. Now he has provoked further controversy with
a half-hearted apology to the bereaved families and reiterating his desire to teach boys how to shoot. Lord Tebbit said: “I do hope you make it plain that I do feel greatly for the victims
and the families of victims of Dunblane and I abhor the failure that allowed that to happen. I’m deeply sorry, of course, about what happened in Dunblane and I can understand how sensitive
they are to all these matters and I hope they do understand that I’m looking for ways in which the kids, who are now causing problems, can be shown a better way.” But Charlie Clydesdale, who
lost his daughter, Victoria, in the school shootings, said last night: “He needs to wake up and smell the coffee. “How would he like it, God forbid, if one of his own was gunned down? Would
he be still thinking this way? I don’t accept this as an apology, he is just trying to cover his back.” Lord Tebbit caused controversy last week when he said allowing boys to use firearms
would tackle gun crime and anti-social behaviour. Astonishingly, he also claimed youngsters would enjoy going out on a shoot because it would teach them how to behave “in a man’s world”. He
added: “It gives them a sense of excitement and kids, particularly young boys, have a need for a degree of violence. “They’d learn excitement and discipline together with the correct,
responsive handling of firearms.” Lord Tebbit also said legislation aimed at controlling the ownership of guns – laws passed only because of the intervention of Dunblane families – are
making next to no difference. “For all the new legislation we still have the potential for another massacre to happen. This society, with its drink and drug-fuelled problems, is a natural
playground for gun dealers and you can still buy a gun very easily. “I’ve been told that you can go to many pubs in London and hire a gun, return it to the owner a few days later and pay for
it. That is asking for the next Dunblane to happen and it’s a pretty gloomy picture.”