On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine shot and killed 14 women at Université de Montréal’s École Polytechnique, before turning his (legally registered) semi-automatic gun on himself. That tragic event set in motion a new chapter in the history of gun control in Canada. On this day, numerous campaigns, marches, vigils and related events are held every year across Canada.
The federal government passed stricter gun control policies just six years after the tragedy, including the establishment of a long-gun registry. However, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper unfortunately dismantled the long-gun registry in 2012, and eased several restrictions on restricted or prohibited weapons. The same 2012 law abolishing the long-gun registry also relieved private gun sellers from the obligation of asking to see the buyer’s firearms permit.
The U.S., with the least gun control laws among industrialized countries, saw 181 mass public shootings with at least four fatalities since 1900. One of the most recent was the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, which saw 49 people killed by a shooter carrying a legally purchased AR-15 assault rifle. Rather than introducing stricter gun control initiatives, most states have made it easier to carry concealed weapons and to purchase guns, all the result of the Supreme Court’s nonsensical decision endorsing the ‘right to bear arms’ in their constitution. Thankfully, Canada doesn’t have such a precarious right, despite what the Canadian Firearms Institute may advocate.
Today, Canadians continue to remind young people of the need to avoid tragedies such as that at the École Polytechnique 27 years ago. We must strive to ensure that there are much needed controls on the lawful possession and use of firearms. The three pillars of gun control are licensing of gun owners, control on guns and a ban on weapons that are designed solely for the purpose of killing other human beings. Whether such laws work in preventing deaths is a matter of politics. What is real are the lives that might potentially be saved.
FROLITICKS 
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