guns in schools [further update]
The third mass-shooting at a Montreal post-secondary educational institution in about 16 years.
Today a lone white gunman (earlier reports claimed two or three or four gunmen), apparently dressed in a black trenchcoat, opened fire at Dawson College, killing 1 and injuring at least 20... 8 critically. Police killed the gunman. And we await further word. Here's the story as CTV reports it.
The story most resembles Columbine, at this point, but comes after two previous Montreal shootings at Concordia University in 1992 (that killed 4 and injured 1 other) and the École Polytechnique in 1989 (with 27 people shot, of which 14 women were killed, plus the later related suicides of one male student and subsequently his parents).
Within minutes of the start of the shooting, members of the Concordia Student Union at the nearby Concordia campus sprang into action, going to the Dawson site to set up support for Dawson students with phones and food and water. The downside of cell phones: they were all jammed, and in recent years Bell telephone has removed many pay phones so there was no way people could get through to their loved ones. A local non-profit organisation, Sun Youth, made arrangements to get people home. In contrast: the college administration? Nowhere to be found. Government representatives? Looking for an opportunity for soundbites.
I work about three blocks from where this took place and at least two of my co-workers happened to be at the scene at the time. Very shaken, but otherwise fine.
Also today, the Canadian government launched a series of recruitment ads for the Canadian Forces that are described as "hard-hitting" and that demand that Canada "fight terror". Apparently we should start at home.
The federal Conservative government has also pledged to scrap the Canadian gun registry.
update
The gunner was apparently 25 years old.
But I notice the discussion below quickly focuses exclusively on the issue of the gun registry, avoiding any mention of the other issues raised or the implications of yet another mass-shooting by a young white male with at least two guns handy, which seems the more fundamental issue.
Today a lone white gunman (earlier reports claimed two or three or four gunmen), apparently dressed in a black trenchcoat, opened fire at Dawson College, killing 1 and injuring at least 20... 8 critically. Police killed the gunman. And we await further word. Here's the story as CTV reports it.
The story most resembles Columbine, at this point, but comes after two previous Montreal shootings at Concordia University in 1992 (that killed 4 and injured 1 other) and the École Polytechnique in 1989 (with 27 people shot, of which 14 women were killed, plus the later related suicides of one male student and subsequently his parents).
Within minutes of the start of the shooting, members of the Concordia Student Union at the nearby Concordia campus sprang into action, going to the Dawson site to set up support for Dawson students with phones and food and water. The downside of cell phones: they were all jammed, and in recent years Bell telephone has removed many pay phones so there was no way people could get through to their loved ones. A local non-profit organisation, Sun Youth, made arrangements to get people home. In contrast: the college administration? Nowhere to be found. Government representatives? Looking for an opportunity for soundbites.
I work about three blocks from where this took place and at least two of my co-workers happened to be at the scene at the time. Very shaken, but otherwise fine.
Also today, the Canadian government launched a series of recruitment ads for the Canadian Forces that are described as "hard-hitting" and that demand that Canada "fight terror". Apparently we should start at home.
The federal Conservative government has also pledged to scrap the Canadian gun registry.
update
The gunner was apparently 25 years old.
But I notice the discussion below quickly focuses exclusively on the issue of the gun registry, avoiding any mention of the other issues raised or the implications of yet another mass-shooting by a young white male with at least two guns handy, which seems the more fundamental issue.