Gun controls may make future UK terror attacks less deadly but not less likely

Analysis: The difficulty of obtaining guns in Britain makes a direct repeat of the Christchurch massacre unlikely, but low-tech attacks are harder for security services to spot, writes Lizzie Dearden

Mourners at a memorial near the Al Noor Masjid mosque in Christchurch (EPA)

The security minister has rightly warned that an attack targeting mosques, similar to the massacre seen in Christchurch last week, could “absolutely happen here” in the UK.

Britain has suffered several recent terrorist atrocities, including the deadly targeting of Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park in 2017, but none of the previous perpetrators has been able to obtain a gun.

Speaking to MPs on Monday, Ben Wallace said the government would consider new controls if necessary but that “the gun laws in this country make it much harder for people to acquire weapons that could wreak mass murder in a very quick time”.