Belgrade’s decision to lock up the parents of a teenage mass shooter has given the British government fresh ammunition for its push on international firearms laws. The case is raw, the politics are sharp, and Whitehall sees an opening.
Let’s be clear. The parents weren't accessories to murder. The father was sentenced to 14 years for negligent training in handling weapons. The mother got three years. Their son, aged 14, used his father’s legally owned guns to kill nine classmates and a security guard last year. The message from the court: gun ownership carries responsibility. The message from Downing Street: this cuts through the noise.
Inside the lobby, sources tell me the Foreign Office is drafting a statement to welcome the verdict. But the real play is beyond a press release. The UK wants this on the agenda for the next G7 summit. A senior diplomat put it bluntly: “If we can’t move the dial after a child’s father goes down for negligence, when can we?”
There is a calculation here. The government knows that domestic gun laws are already tight. The 1997 ban on handguns after Dunblane is still the gold standard. But the street is different. Illegal firearms are a persistent problem. And the US remains a giant, silent partner in this debate. The UK cannot lecture Washington, but it can lead the international choir.
Privately, Labour is supportive. The shadow home secretary told me the sentencing “vindicates” the party’s call for tougher licensing. But there is caution. Everyone remembers the backlash after the 2013 push for EU-wide gun control, which was derided as a “power grab” by Brussels. Brexit means the UK no longer needs to sell this to 27 capitals. It can pick its fights.
The real story is the shift in narrative. For years, the gun debate was about spree shooters and the Second Amendment. Now it’s about “negligent parents” and “safe storage”. That is a framing that resonates with middle Britain. The parents of the Serbian shooter were not extremists. They were ordinary folks who failed to secure a weapon. That is a story that crosses cultures.
But there are pitfalls. The US gun lobby will cry hypocrisy. British gun clubs are already complaining about new storage checks. And the PM’s own backbenches have a libertarian flank that mutters about “creeping bans”. One Tory MP told me this afternoon: “We don’t want a crusade that ends up banning air rifles in Norfolk.”
The numbers are not yet on the table. No new legislation is expected before the autumn. But the direction of travel is clear. The Serbian verdict will be cited in every Home Office briefing on firearm safety. It legitimises a global standard. And it gives the prime minister a chance to posture on the world stage without spending domestic capital.
Watch this space. The parents’ jail terms are a watershed. Not for Serbia, but for the international debate. The UK will use them as a cudgel. And in Whitehall, that is how games are won.
One final thing. The Serbian ruling is not legally binding on the UK. But in the court of public opinion, it is powerful. The mother’s three-year sentence is the detail that lingers. A mother jailed for not controlling her son’s access to a gun. That is the image that will haunt the next round of lobbying. Expect the campaign group Mothers for Gun Control to be very vocal in the coming weeks.
