12.06.2014 01:36 AM

Fourteen reasons

…why we still need effective gun safety laws.

  1. Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
  2. Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
  3. Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
  4. Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
  5. Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
  6. Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
  7. Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department
  8. Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
  9. Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
  10. Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
  11. Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
  12. Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
  13. Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering studentBarbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
  14. Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student

23 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    We need effective knife laws too because according to Stats Canada more murders are committed by knife than by gun.

    • smelter rat says:

      Fuck you Joe. Just fuck you, you stunned prick.

      • JH says:

        Now there’s a reason why no one will ever vote for extremists of any stripe. They deny anyone’s right to comment, or have an opinon.

      • Joe says:

        Well rat in the world I grew up in it wasn’t unusual to see a rifle in the back window of a truck with a box of ammo on the seat and both doors unlocked. No one I know of was shot.

        On the other hand a young lady I knew was killed by a idiot boyfriend who slashed her throat with a knife. I tried to staunch the bleeding while two of my friends held the murderer until the cops showed up. Unfortunately the creep had cut her jugular vein and apart from having my hands and clothes soaked in blood the only good I could do was tell her how much she was loved as she lapsed into unconsciousness and death before the ambulance arrived. People use knives more often to kill people than guns. Yeah I still have “blood soaked” nightmares and avoid the US where the murder took place.

        • Al in Cranbrook says:

          That’s the world I grew up in, too. My father packed a .22 LR to school, circa 1926 at the age of 12, to hunt birds and rabbits on the way to and from. Parked it in the coat racks at the back of the classroom with all the others. Anyone ever dared point a rifle at someone else, the teacher pretty much kicked the shit out of ’em on the spot, end of story. Nobody ever got shot, subject never even came up.

          So what’s changed since then?

          Well, back then people didn’t have excuses for their irresponsibility, ’cause nobody would listen to crap like that. Now, like assholes, everybody has an excuse…and the drippier, the better.

          That’s the long and short of it.

          How’d it get that way? You want a world where anything goes, guess you got it, eh? Like the old saying puts it, careful what you wish for.

          • Al in Cranbrook says:

            And before anyone suggests my dad probably grew up in the Yukon, fact is he was born and raised in Chilliwack, ’bout an hour drive from Vancouver.

          • doconnor says:

            Back then lots of people did get shot, both accidently and on purpose. Maybe not at his school.

            Now that we gather nation wide statistics we can identify those kinds of risks without having the rely on anecdotes and take steps to reduce them.

          • Kaspar Juul says:

            Yes teachers kicking the shit out of students. What a civilized society you advocate Al.

        • smelter rat says:

          This isn’t about you, you egocentric asshole.

          • Joe says:

            Nobody ever said it was about anything but people being killed. The fact is no matter what implement is used the victim is Just as dead. The stupid part is that there is a great hue and cry for more legislation when in fact you can not legislate morality. Enacting some silly ‘gun control’ law won’t effect the murder rate at all. That is because the agent of death you can not control is another human being and we human beings are very resourceful when it comes to finding ways to kill other human beings. I know of a case where a husband killed his wife by drowning her in the cattle watering trough. He had three rifles in the house but they would leave evidence so he used water.

          • doconnor says:

            “That is because the agent of death you can not control is another human being and we human beings are very resourceful when it comes to finding ways to kill other human beings.”

            Murders are often spontaneous acts, not carefully planned after reviewing all possible methods.

            Trying to kill someone with a gun has a higher fatality rate then other methods. Remove the gun as an option and the murder rate will go down.

          • Joe says:

            doconnor there is a bit of a contradiction in what you wrote. If the act is spontaneous then it is unlikely a rifle would be used if the potential offender was legally storing the rifle. (S)He would have to go unlock the cabinet, find the ammo and load the rifle then find the target. In other words it would take a fair bit of planning. A spontaneous murder is more likely a heated argument in the kitchen where one party grabs a knife and slashed the other person with it. Also a firearm is not likely to kill unless it hits a vital organ. A few years back I came across someone who had a gunshot wound to the back of his head. The bullet was at such an angle that it ricocheted off the back of his skull making him angry but not dead. He said some gang banger with a handgun had shot him. Of course handguns are very heavily legislated in Canada but in talking to a cop I was told that illegal handguns are readily available and the cop could get me one in about minutes if I wanted one. I don’t have any firearms and don’t want any firearms so I declined his offer and thus couldn’t tell you if his sales pitch was true or not.

  2. Ian Howard says:

    Gun violence is another result of our inability to prioritize mental health. I don’t know if this tragedy was preventable but I do know that our health care system does not have the resources to effectively diagnose and treat at risk individuals. Until we adequately fund mental health research and care, too many individuals who pose a risk to themselves or society will continue to go unnoticed let alone treated.
    There is no right to carry a gun without regulation, but it should a priority to offer the type of care necessary to those who have become so disconnected from society that they pose a threat to others and their own safety.

  3. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Well, all will recall the cries that eliminating the gun registry was surely going to lead to pretty much catastrophic rises in firearms related homicides, right?

    Wrong.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/2013-homicide-rate-in-canada-lowest-since-1966-1.2856143

    Quote:

    “Firearm-related homicides were down, but fatal stabbings increased. There were 131 homicides tied to guns in 2013, down 41 from 2012. This was the lowest rate of firearm-related homicide since comparable data became available in 1974.

    Shootings still accounted for about a quarter of homicides.

    Most gun-related homicides were committed with handguns, a trend that has held over the last 20 years. Despite this, the rate of handgun-related homicides reached its lowest point since 1998.

    Some other key numbers:
    ■The number of fatal stabbings grew by 31 cases, to 195 deaths. Knives accounted for about 40 per cent of all homicides.”

    • Steve T says:

      Al, stop trying to impose facts on this discussion. It’s all about emotion – don’t you know that by now?

    • Steve T says:

      Let me add to my comment above. I have owned guns before, during, and after the gun registry. I disagreed with the registry, and was mostly concerned with the colossal overspending that it entailed, but quite frankly it wasn’t a big deal to register the guns I bought during the registry years. It added 20 minutes to the buying process, max. I suppose, if it gave someone a (misguided) sense of security, then maybe it had an auxillary benefit to the public. But it is foolhardy to think that the registry added anything to actual public safety.

      The most important gun safety laws in Canada are the ones that have been relatively unchanged for a quarter century or more. Handguns are very difficult to obtain, legally or otherwise. Long guns require the buyer to have an FAC, which involves background checks. That’s what matters. The registry does virtually nothing.

      • Al in Cranbrook says:

        Purely speculative here, but…

        Over the last couple years laws have come into effect making mandatory sentences for crimes specifically involving firearms a fact of life for perps.

        Knives, not so much.

        Hmmm…

  4. Al in Cranbrook says:

    An article related to this showed up in our local papers a couple weeks ago, an “alert”…

    http://www.e-know.ca/news/high-risk-sex-offender-reported-bound-cranbrook/

    It noted that he has over 70…yes, SEVENTY…convictions.

    Which begs the immediate question, how many does it take???

    Statistically, a very high percentage of perps involved in firearms crimes are well known to police and the justice system.

    Again, how many convictions does it take before the justice system finally gets down and dirty with repeat offenders???

    All the gun laws in the world the left can dream up won’t solve this bullshit!

    • Kaspar Juul says:

      Tying Gun Laws and the Montreal Massacre to a local sex offender alert and your “OUTRAGE” is some impressive tin foil reality distortion there Al.

      Im pretty sure the “left” couldnt come up with as equally as loony a connection.

      Well done.

  5. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Frankly, Casper, I’d e surprised if you can tie your own shoes.

  6. Patez says:

    Claude Colgan, Hélene’s brother, wants LESS gun laws and has explained many times why simplistic ideas like gun control do not work.

    Spoons dont cause obesity. Even large ones.

    Pens dont misspell words. Even when they contain a lot of ink.

    Gun control advocates refuse to see the reality of crime; the problem lies within the individual, not the tool. And as long as they think the opposite, they will support laws that endanger the public by refusing to address root causes of criminality.

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