THE Dunblane campaign for a total ban on handguns in Britain ended in defeat last night.
Mr John Major's government survived a minor Tory rebellion to win the key Commons vote relatively comfortably by 306 votes to 281 during the committee stage of the Firearms Bill.
The Dunblane campaigners had travelled to Westminster in a last ditch attempt to "shame" MPs into backing their demand.
But by a majority of 25, MPs rejected the Labour motion ensuring the passage of government proposals which will outlaw 160,000 (80 per cent of) all licensed firearms.
The measures proposed by the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, ban guns above .22 calibre, and restrict the use of smaller calibre weapons to secure gun clubs.
To the end, Labour's Mr Jack Straw challenged Mr Major's refusal to allow Tory MPs a "free vote" on the issue, sparked by the tragedy which saw Thomas Hamilton murder 16 children and their teacher last March.
But the promise of a small number of Labour rebellions against their front bench, together with some crucial Ulster Unionist votes, had always pointed to a government victory.
Before last night's vote, ministers had to endure the discomfort of a warning from former minister Mr David Mellor that it would prove "a Pyrrhic victory indeed".
Mr Mellor told the Commons he would defy the government whip for the first time in 17 years as an MP. Two massacres in 10 years, he said, had seen "logic and emotion irresistibly build up" to justify a parliamentary ban on all handguns.
"If the public were to be voting on this issue," he said, "there is no doubt about the way they would be voting." He told MPs: "The fact of the matter is that if we leave a loophole, if we trust the very people that let us down before, we will not have adequate redress for the ghastly tragedy that hit the community of Dunblane."
MPs, said Mr Mellor, had "run out of road" as far as public opinion was concerned. And he said a government victory would be hollow: "They will be seen to have won the vote but lost the argument - a Pyrrhic victory indeed."
Launching the rebel bid another former minister, Mr Robert Hughes, accused ministers of acting illogically and said MPs should have been permitted a free vote. He said a .22 gun could be just as lethal as heavier calibre weapons, and in some circumstances more so.
Mr Hughes said: "I have had a gun pointed at me by a very insistent man who wanted me to hand over a video tape in Beirut. I said `Yes, take as many as you like.' I didn't ask him what calibre of gun he was carrying."
He told MPs that the .22 was favoured by the Israeli secret service, Mossad, the SAS and assassins. It had been used to murder Senator Robert Kennedy and to nearly assassinate President Ronald Reagan.
PA acids: Northern Ireland MPs voting in favour of a total ban were Dr Joe Hendron (SDLP), Mr John Hume (SDLP) and Mrs Seamus Mallon (SDLP).
Those voting against were Mr Clifford Forsythe (UUP), Rev Martin Smyth (UUP), Mr William Ross (UUP), Rev Willie McCrea (DUP), Rev Ian Paisley (DUP) and Mr Peter Robinson (DUP).
Mr Roy Beggs (UUP), Mr John Taylor (UUP), Mr David Trimble (UUP), Mr Cecil Walker (UUP), Mr Ken Maginnis (UUP), Mr Robert McCartney (UK Unionist) and Mr Eddie McGrady (SDLP) did not vote.