THE British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, yesterday declared a gun amnesty as the terms of reference were announced of the official inquiry into the Dunblane massacre.
Today social workers and counsellors will be on hand to support pupils at Dunblane Primary School when they return for the first time since last week's massacre when 16 children and their teacher were shot dead.
Members of the school board and Parent Teachers' Association had suggested the school should be completely redecorated in the awake of the tragedy but this has not happened yet. A spokes woman for the regional education authority said "We have talked to various psychologists and they said the best thing was for the children to go back to their things in the classroom, their posters on the wall. It is a bit of normality they are needing. It is not to say it won't be decorated at a later stage."
Mr Major told the Commons that discussions had been going on with the police about the possibility of an gun amnesty for "some time" prior to the killings. The details were still being worked out.
Officials said it would enable illegally held weapons to be handed in without fear of prosecution provided they had not been used in a serious crime.
Although the guns used by the Dunblane mass killer, Thomas, Hamilton, were all legally held, officials said that any measure which reduced the number was considered "helpful".
During the last firearms amnesty in 1988, following the Hungerford massacre, 48,000 weapons were handed in.
The Scottish Secretary, Mr Michael Forsyth, said the investigation into the tragedy, headed by the Scottish judge Lord Cullen, would begin taking evidence in June with a view to reporting by the end of September.
The teacher killed in the massacre, Ms Gwen Mayor, was yesterday laid to rest as Dunblane neared the end of the grim task of burying the victims. Complete silence descended on the town as her funeral took place in the 13th century cathedral. Many shops and banks remained closed for the duration of the service, and main streets were deserted. In the cathedral square, small groups gathered in silence.
Later yesterday the same cathedral held the funeral of Brett McKinnon (6), while the last of the funerals took place privately in Ayr, 60 miles away, for Ross Irvine (5).
Meanwhile, in a church hall 200 yards away from the cathedral, teddy bears and soft toys sent to Dunblane by children and well wishers from all over the world have now been put on display. Some 3,000 toys, all bearing messages of sympathy, fill the room. A message on one brown teddy bear says. "The morning God overslept."
Also yesterday one of the most seriously injured children left Glasgow's Yorkhill hospital with his parents. Coll Austin (5) was injured in the chest, foot and eye when Hamilton opened fire.
Princess Anne visited Glasgow to see the remaining injured Dunblane child at Yorkhill Children's hospital. The princess saw Amie Adam (5) in a general ward at the hospital and spoke with medical staff looking after the little girl.