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STIRLING University students have voted to disband their rifle club following an appeal from the local Association of University Teachers in the wake of the Dunblane tragedy.

The move comes as the Government this week defeated efforts to ban all handguns, called for by Dunblane campaigners.

The university is only four miles from Dunblane, and one of the 16 children to be murdered by Thomas Hamilton was Sophie North, daughter of Mick North, reader in the department of biological and molecular sciences.

Student association president Robert Shorthouse said the student council had decided to hold a referendum and 63 per cent of students had voted to ban the club.

"It was a difficult decision to have to make because the club had done absolutely nothing wrong in the eyes of the law," he said. "The members are obviously disappointed that they have had to disband."

The club, which has around 20 members, received Pounds 900 annually from the students' sports association. Its firing range was not on campus.