Reply #55: thank you [View All]

[iverglas]

The urge to understand what contributed to this event happening, and to find ways of preventing others like it from happening, is strong -- particularly in a community that has been traumatized by similar incidents within recent living memory (Montreal in general, the post-secondary academic world there in particular -- the Polytechnique, Concordia and now Dawson -- and Canada more generally).

Two of the victims remain in critical condition with head wounds; the hospital spokespeople are being circumspect and releasing no detail other than that, but reading between the lines, one expects their chances of survival are very poor.

The definitive word on Gill's possession of the firearms is that he was licensed, they were registered, and he was a member of a Montreal-area gun club, where he went for target practice. The same gun club was where Valery Fabrikant, the paranoid university professor who killed four colleagues at Concordia University in 1992, also trained.

Gill fired a total of 60 shots, 10 before entering the school, all from the Beretta. He killed himself with the handgun, a 9mm Glock 45, and had left the shotgun in a bag outside the school. He apparently spent time checking out the scene a month before the event, as shown on security cameras at the large downtown shopping plaza nearby.

It has been reported that family members of Gill signed the forms for him to be licensed to possess firearms, presumably simply as identity guarantors, although there may have been more involved in the licence to possess restricted weapons. His parents report that he was depressed once some time ago, and that since Christmas he had been spending more time playing video games. They thought his interest in firearms was just a new hobby.

The Conservative government is reacting by proposing more deterrent measures against individuals convicted of firearms-related offences. How clever. Obviously, the threat of a heavy prison term was very likely going to make Gill think twice before carrying out his project.