"Snowdrops are in bloom this weekend as Dunblane shakes off its winter chill and looks ahead to spring. But in this Scottish town, the carpet of while petals marks not just a new season but also the anniversary of a school shooting that led to an immediate change in gun laws. Twenty years ago this Sunday, a local gun owner walked into the town’s elementary school and fatally shot 16 first-graders and their teacher before killing himself. Pictures of anguished parents running through the streets for news of their children deepened public outrage, and a crusade to tighten controls — led by townspeople and victims’ families — won widespread support. The "Snowdrop Campaign," which took its name from the only spring flower in bloom at the time of the massacre, resulted in a ban on all private hand-guns.... The Dunblane shooter, unemployed 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton, was the legal owner of all four handguns used in the attack: two Browning pistols and two Smith & Wesson revolvers. However, the police firearms-licensing office was unaware that complaints had been made about Hamilton's behavior towards young boys at after-school clubs that he ran. The Snowdrop Campaign successfully argued for deeper background checks of firearm certificate applicants."