Sep 14 2006
School shooting, Montreal
Yesterday Kimveer Gill entered Dawson College and began a shooting spree that resulted in one fatality and over a dozen seriously wounded.
The details are sketchy, but it appears Gill, armed with a Beretta CX4 Storm, entered the school and began randomly shooting at students until police arrived and ended his rampage in an exchange of gunfire. The media has referenced the shooters blog (hosted at vampirefreaks.com), noting that it has been taken offline (technically incorrect, Gills username “fatality666″ has been deleted, but the blog entries remain online for now - I’ll save you the effort, “teenaged angst” sums it all up).
Whether Gill was licenced to own a firearm has not yet been made public, but the hue and cry against firearms will undoubtedly rise in volume following this cowardly act. In the interim thoughts and prayers for the victims.
Certainly a bummer. I’m thinking that the media focus is already starting to drift away from the gun aspect and more towards the video games/blogging aspect of the story.
I suspect that a billion dollar “blog registry” may be in the works…
I’ve got to admit, I’ve given up on the MSM coverage, typical recycling of the same tidbits over and over again. I’ve suffered through the entire blog (I’ve a cached copy if the link stops working, right now it’s just getting hammered with people accessing it), and there’s little beyond the “the world doesn’t understand me”, and “them are bad, and don’t understand us“.
One oblique reference to firearms, and a few minor mentions of video games. Nothing you wouldn’t find on a hundred thousand myspace accounts.
Can’t find the pictures being thrown around by the media (if someone has a link feel free to post it), but the one’s I’ve seen on TV are limited to your typical bedroom “me with shiny stuff” examples.
-sigh-
We’ll see what they turn up in the next few days by way of background.
Ok, his image gallery is located here
Yes; very sadly, there was a shooting rampage on a college campus in downtown Montreal.
Before anyone comes along and demands for additional gun rules and restrictions for law-abiding gun owners - when what we really need are harsher penalties for illegal usage and illegal possession of firearms - I feel a strong need to quote from the Canadian NFA (National Firearms Association) website:
“Canada has had a closely controlled firearm regime for a long, long time. Handguns have had to be registered since 1934. (In spite of that, “closely controlled� handguns have always been the most popular firearms for use in crime.) Government control has been applied to all legal firearm purchases since 1977, and many firearms are classed as “prohibited firearms.� In 1991 a large number of military-style semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines became prohibited or restricted. Canadian criminals don’t seem to use any of them, although they are all easily available illegally.�
I think it is important to reiterate what I have long-said and believed: we need CCW in Canada, as soon as is possible. Again, to quote from the NFA website:
“Of course you want permission to carry a concealed handgun for protection, and you have the right to apply for that. But the bureaucrat who receives your application will refuse you. That’s guaranteed–no Type 3 authorizations to carry (ATCs) have been issued since the C-68 firearms control system came into effect! He refuses to issue a Type 3 ATC to you, simply because bureaucrats have decided not to issue any. That is outrageous and illegal.â€?
I’d rather be able to shoot back and pray I’m not hit by a stray bullet, than cower and pray I’m not hit by a stray bullet - all the while waiting for some SWAT officer to clear me out from under a desk after the shooter is long-gone. Per one final NFA quote about our policemen and policewomen:
“They come after the crime has been committed and the violent criminal has left the scene, or after the criminal has killed himself–and that is TOO DAMNED LATE!â€?
Quite right.
P.S. What we also need to do is hold the licensor of the firearms personally accountable for dangerous individuals who obtain firearms through the system. Ditto for judges who allow deranged people to retain access to firearms when these judges clearly have the option of banning them from ever going near another firearm (see: the recent .338 shooting of the Quebec policewoman).
P.P.S. The Toronto Star applauds the police arriving at 3 minutes after the shooting was first reportd. A quick analysis:
1) The quick response was only by fluke; the first police responders already happened to be in the immediate area. This is not a guranteed response time by any means.
2) The response was within 3 minutes of the shooting being reported, not within three minutes of the first shots. There is a major differences, as those fleeing probably had precious little time to phone for police help until they secured their own personal safety.
I’m really curious as to how this kid aquired a firearm and if he or a family member he lives with was licensed to own it.
Shame this stuff happens. The thing that really bothered me was the journal and how half of the people treat him like a Martyr and the rest scorn him. I just don’t see how people could praise him for killing innocents. It wasn’t like a terrorist, where their praised for “duty to their religion”. Doesn’t make much sense does it?
Also, some of the stuff has been confirmed if you can say that on Wikipedia. Picture of him holding the Beretta CX4 Storm.
Preliminary estimates for the proposed federal ‘Goth Registry’ indicate that registration fees paid by the goths will cover all operating expenses.
Kudos on your tasteful and restrained response.
On a more upbeat note, World War Z is on the bookstore shelves, and I scored a copy on my lunch break. It looks extremely promising.
According to the Star the firearms were legally owned:
Article here
And, I would just like to personally thank Jack Layton for shooting the NDP in the foot, again. Way to make sure that when the NDP could in theory pick up some votes they won\’t.
Fearsclave: Ayup, been meaning to grab a copy myself, but just haven’t had the time. I still harbored a little grief against Max Brooks until recently, but decided to let bygones be bygones.
Let me know what you think of World War Z when you’ve finished!
Brenda: Heh, nice one.
Sorta the special Olympian of Canadian politics isn’t he?
Hmmmm … heavy Canadian gun control did not prevent this, so … one should repeat the same failed policy, but do it harder?
Follow-up: The Beretta Storm, being a carbine, was a restricted firearm and a proper background check should have been done on the murderer before he became licensed to purchase restricted arms. Apparently his family signed the letters of reference to enable him to obtain restricted firearms. I have no problem with re-doing the background check every 5 years to re-assess ability to obtain and possess restricted weapons, and I certainly have no problem holding the signatories of those reference letters responsible for whom they sign, to a reasonable extent (aye, there’s the rub: define “reasonable”!).
Also: The Storm is by no means a “rifle”, nor is it an assault rifle. This is not semantics; it’s just another sign that no media group can ever seem to get facts about firearms correct - though the Globe and Mail came closest in today’s (Friday) paper.
Finally: Layton is one of the key reasons not to vote NDP…
One last point: Kudos to all the people who wrote to the Toronto Star asking why the government bureacrats will not grant us ATC’s, even though they are taking the law into their own hands (illegally) by denying ATC’s to those who should qualify.
Teen angst?
How long do the “teen years” last?
The guy was 25.
But obviously allowed to stay a teen well past the time he should have.
As I commented on T.O. Crime
“heard a report today saying that we should pay more attention to what our children are doing online.
It’s true…to me this is elementary.
Our kids only used the computer in the basement and we had a password on it…no computer in your room, sorry.
But, this guy was 25.
Hardly a kid.
The Mister suggested out that he probably was online unmonitored for years…and maybe it’s so. It’s just speculation.
How long does the descent into a parallel world take?
Probably not that long if it’s coupled with mental illness.
I feel for this guys parents. What I should have done, what I could have done swimming through their heads.
When your child starts exhibiting strange behaviour, how much help does a parent really have?
Not much. Once someone is 18, in this country, you can’t really interfer with what they’re doing too much as a parent.
You can call the cops, you can call an ambulance, you can call who you want.
They’re adults, and if you can’t prove theat they’re not “right” when the agency shows up, you’re stuck with them in your basement looking at vampire sites and cleaning their guns until they open fire on a group of students in a College cafeteria.
I’ll bet cash money that his parents expressed concern, and had no one to turn to.
The problem is this country’s insistence on ignoring issues regarding mental health.
We’ll go on walks for breast cancer and alzheimers, and MS…but I’ll bet my mortgage (and you can have that btw) that we have 10 times the problem with mental health.
It’s the secret disease that no one wants to confront or talk about.
That person in the cubicle next to you is probably bi-polar on meds, but will they tell you about it? I bet not…because of the stigma.
We’re so afraid of facing mental health issues that we pretend that they don’t exist until something like this happens, and then we shake our heads and marvel.”
Yeah, you can’t do anything once someone is an adult. Thank F&$*ing GOD! ‘K? My mom is a nutjob the best day of my life was my 18th birthday when she crashed my birthday party found out I was moving in with Ted and threatened me with all manor of things. I looked her right in the eye and said “Go right ahead and try”. But that is another rant for another day (Oh and did I mention I am the golden girl of the family now? House, baby, 7 year relationship…)
I am appalled that they are blaming it on goth culture. Most of the “goths” I have known are sensitive poetry writing people. Also it is the only way guys are allowed to wear lace and pretty jewelery. Goth is a fashion statement more than anything else. And I played vampire role playing games and I never killed anybody.
Next they’ll be blaming murder on music… oh wait they did that already.
(Oh and thanks for fixing my link Erik. I forgot your blog takes href tags. Most don’t. Should have at least tiny url-ed it, but you know. Mommy brain. Shhhhhhh of course I was not forgetful *before* the baby
)
Radmilla: I’m in total agreement with you on this. My reference to teenaged angst was more about his demonstrated mental age, not his actual age.
I understand the parental angle, lord knows in just a few short years I may get to see things from the other side of the fence.
When I was a teenager I had my fair share of angst, depression, sense of isolation and despair. It’s a natural thing in teenagers. My parents dealt with it as best they could, they gave support when it was (rarely) asked for, and allowed me to find my own way reinforcing that they were around to help should I need it.
I considered suicide in those seemingly dark days, I entertained revenge fantasies briefly, but I suppose the key difference was those that I thought of were those that had done me wrong, not a generalization of “them”. As it turned out the key was that I never sought to actualize those feelings, those fantasies, and they too disappeared in the fullness of time.
Funny how life has it’s own brand of justice to met out to bullies and their ilk. Time demonstrates that more qualitative vengeance adequately.
As a parent I don’t look forward to dealing with Jillys teenage years, but I hope that approach it with the same common sense and support that my parents demonstrated back then. Free reign for her rebellion (if and when it occurs) is not an option.
A lack of recourse is still no excuse for willfull ignorance.
Brenda: Ah yes, something is always to blame. Dungeons and Dragons was going to turn us all into satan worshipers, heavy metal music was going to have us biting heads off live animals.
Simple answers for simple people.
No worries on the link, I leave the comments fairly open as my spam filter catches most inappropriate comments, and I keep a close eye on the rest.
Finished World War Z. Well worth it. A bit short perhaps; it leaves you wanting more.
And Brooks? He has put way, way, way, way, way, way, way too much thought into this.
Hey, I resent the fact that people feel they need to blame Dungeons and Dragons for satanism and biting the heads off of bats. They’re both fun hobbys that anyonce can and should do in their spare time. I a prefectly well adjusted adult who never played D&D or listened to Ozzy and I find bat heads tasty. Even tastier when done in the middle of an inverted pentagram on the floor in blood.
Ahh the ramblings of a failed goth. I was foo fat for lace. The chick I was trying to impress wasn’t that hot, so good thing I went back to my bat heads.
What I find disturbing about the whole Montreal incident is that the inane pratter of the media is the same white noise to me before after this incident as it was before. Nothing has changed, and I don’t think people are even trying to see the message that something should.
I sincerely hope that we new parents attempt to make a better dent in the lives of our children than the self-centred Starbucks drinking SUV driving previous generation did. I think Erik and I were spoiled by having parents that so actively gave a shit about our lives that they even had kids when it wasn’t cool. 80’s children are brats.
Smoochies to my wife, born in ‘81. It late and I’m feeling sarcastic.
When I was a teenager I had my fair share of angst, depression, sense of isolation and despair.
Dude, unless you were lying about your age on your application to the Mighty P, you went through the same stuff during your 20’s!