Growing up in Montreal I was haunted by the picture of these murdered women.
Murdered at the École Polytechnique more than 30-years-ago.
Savagely slaughtered just for being women, by a man who hated feminists.
At my high school, not far from where the massacre took place, every December 6th was a day to remember them. And I used to love lighting those candles and sheltering them from the wind.
But what enraged me as I grew up, was seeing the Cons trying to diminish their legacy, and the legacy of those who loved them, by claiming the slaughter was the work of a madman not a misogynist.
Even though the gunman shouted "you're a bunch of feminists" before opening fire.
And of course, I hated the way the ugly Cons are always trying to turn this country into a version of gun crazy America.
You know, that kind of place, full of armed crazies and drenched in blood.
I couldn't live with that, so I have always stood up to them, even though no issue I have ever written about has caused me to receive more death threats.
And even though there have been so many other brutish massacres of the innocent, from Dawson College, to the recent horror in Nova Scotia.
So you can imagine how great I felt when I read this.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced a ban on some 1,500 makes and models of military-grade "assault-style" weapons in Canada, effective immediately.
Starting today, licensed gun owners will no longer be allowed to sell, transport, import or use these sorts of weapons in this country.
How grateful I felt to have a real Canadian leader who even in the midst of a terrible pandemic, and a state of economic collapse, is standing up for our precious values.
And also, how angry I felt to see that the bestial Cons haven't changed a bit.
They are now even more American than ever, they are a clear and present danger to this country, and must never be allowed to govern it.
Of course, we still have a long way to go before we can make Canada an even safer place.
But at least those poor murdered women can rest in peace.
Their legacy helped make gun control a Canadian value.
So long after the Cons are just a bad memory, or a foul stench.
We shall remember them...
After the Montreal massacre certain segments of society called for a ban on assault weapons.
ReplyDeleteThe Chretien government balked and brought in the Long Gun Registry instead, while passing regulations about the size of magazines and other measures. It was a compromise. Take effective gun control action without going for an outright ban.
The Harperites fought all of the way against the Registry and when they won their majority they repealed it. I remember them high-fiving in The House after the vote was taken and I remember receiving invitations to parties, in the mail from Conservative politicians in Ottawa, to celebrate its demise.
The Liberals came to power again and they began talking about an outright ban. No more talk of gun registries. They finally promised to put a ban in place during the last election and they followed through.
The interesting intended consequences of first opposing the Registry and then eliminating it.
First, they convinced the Liberals that registries are not the way to go. The Long Gun Registry was a bat that the Conservatives used at every opportunity to beat on the Liberals, particularly when it was revealed that setting it up cost more money than originally estimated. No government would want to go through that again.
Second, if the Long Gun Registry still existed it is highly probable that banning assault weapons would not have happened.
It is ironic. If gun owners and the Conservatives would have left well enough alone, when the Long Gun Registry was established, they would probably not be looking at a ban today. Sometimes, Karma is a bitch.
You want to talk about irony, how about the precedent that Quebec set when they refused a court order to submit their registry data for destruction, as per the law of the land? It seems that a province can defy the rule of federal law and in that case, Trudeau won't be able to fulfill these hollow promises when sanctuaries rise in the West to resist this bigotry.
DeleteNobody will hand in anything and this minoru government will topple before the amnesty period expires. The economy will be in such bad shape that the tax payers won't be able to foot the bill for this political stunt.
Oh, here we go, another humper resisting doing the right thing because "muh constitutional freedums". Bigotry? You keep using that word but I don't think you know what it means. Misogyny is bigotry. "Albertan" is not a race, and penile insecurity is not a protected disability. Go clutch your enhancement devices elsewhere and leave Canadians to the freedom of peace, order and good government. Human life is more important than your supposed "right" to cosplay as Rambo or blow away a moose with a rocket launcher.
Delete"Quebecer" isn't a race either, that didn't stop them from ignoring the laws of the land; but in an odd way, I can thank them for paving the way for more civil disobedience when provinces appoint their own CFOs and opt out of this knee jerk program that does nothing to enhance public safety and criminalizes a significant portion of the population.
DeleteResist, indeed.
For every "Moron Labe" a smattering of 30-50 feral hogs blurts out as their rallying cry, there's a "Just Watch Me" waiting in response.
DeleteGet with the program, and get your pipsqueak Peyronie's peener out of Charlton Heston's cold, dead hands, or go join Meal Team Six and the Oaf Keepers having their tantrum in Michigan.
Canadians are through with burying their dead.
Québécois isn't a race, firstly because races don't exist, but it is a nation. Not all nations are sovereign states; for example four nations (or more accurately three and part of a fourth) make up the UK, not to overlook the Cornish and Manx peoples. The Basque and Catalan nations straddle two sovereign states, as do the Mohawk nation and the Abenaki nation.
DeleteQuébec was taking action to PROTECT the gun registry, which many of us had campaigned for. I was writing a graduate history exam in a nearby building while the masculinist terrorist was murdering young women. Anon, you are full of it.
Simon, don't forget the Concordia massacre, only a few years after Polytechnique.
Simon, isn't it illegal to publish blatant death threats? Is anyone prosecuting the Sun and Brian Lilley?
DeleteLOL Anonymous. If this measure is as pointless as you say why are you getting your knickers in such a knot? If nothing is going to change why are you here?
DeleteI am a member of the Canadian Air Force reserves. I know alot of other military types who own these weapons. Virtually all of them expressed displeasure when the Liberals announced their plan to prohibit ownership of them. However, virtually all of them also said that they would obey the law if it came to that.
On a per capita basis Canadians own more firearms than Americans. However, our relationship with our firearms is different. Most owners in Canada do not have a masturbatory relationship with their weapons like the ammosexuals in the US and Canadians are more likely to follow the law. Example: My father was an avid hunter, who owned a large number of hunting rifles and shotguns. When the Liberals brought in the Long Gun Registry he was rather upset but that still did not prevent him from registering all of his firearms. He did not like it but he followed the law like the majority of gun owners in Canada.
There will be exceptions but it will happen again this time.
Punishing a large group of people for the misdeeds of a few (who aren't even really a part of that group), yeah, I'd consider that bigotry and hypocrisy. Carding/stop and frisk is "bad", because it's discriminatory, mandatory minimums is "discriminatory"; but performing mental gymnastics to blame and criminalize gun owners is okay? Apparently bigotry is okay, when it's directed towards a group of people or lifestyle you disagree with.
DeleteThis change does NOT criminalise hunting rifles. Obviously a lot of people in rural and northern regions hunt. The reason for registering long guns (other than assault weapons) is simply to know if there are such weapons in a particular household (in the event of "domestic violence" and similar disputes. If you have a car, you register that, for the same reason. It can kill someone, even though that is not its intended purpose.
DeleteYou're seriously comparing a safety regulation for an object that was specifically designed to kill and maim other living beings, and which Canadian courts have held there is no "right" to own any more than any other commercially available object, to racialized policing tactics and the barbaric practices hotline? I guess it was the height of oppression when cars with no seat belts or airbags were taken off the market too? Why have fuel-efficiency regulation or recalls and incentive programs to turn in unsafe or environmentally hazardous vehicles? That's offensive to law-abiding coal-rollers! Black Lungs Matter! Wait, I know -- Black Guns Matter, is that your argument? Funny, I don't see anything on the list that makes an exception for the same weapons of war painted with pink and purple polka dots. Calling this "bigotry" is absolutely ridiculous, so just take the L on this one, Cletus. Go back to mom's basement, turn on Call of Doody and go play with your joystick. Your Hot Pockets are ready, and it's time for the adults to take your dangerous toys away.
DeleteRegistration was simply a placeholder for eventual confiscation, as we've seen in the past couple of days, except now, there's no longer a government watch list of addresses for the trust fund baby to deploy his jack booted thugs to.
DeleteYou really want to go down the car/gun comparison with me? You'll lose. If we regulated vehicles the way we regulated firearms there would be massive upheaval. Besides, a registry didn't prevent previous Ontario Liberal AG from killing a cyclist with his vehicle. Guess it's time to take the "assault vehicles" off the road and like rifles, good luck determining a working definition that doesn't negatively affect a large portion of the population.
Resist, as this echo chamber of a blog so often likes to advocate.
"Registration was simply a placeholder for eventual confiscation, as we've seen in the past couple of days, except now, there's no longer a government watch list of addresses for the trust fund baby to deploy his jack booted thugs to."
DeleteAnonymous, it took you four comments before resorting to this old chestnut. I give you credit for waiting so long to bring it up. I was beginning to think that you were someone who just disagreed with the new government regulations but now I realize that you are one of them.
It is the fevered dreams of a very small minority of "gun enthusiasts" who see guvmint agents coming for their guns around every corner. The level of paranoia from them is a case study of why we need very strict gun control laws in Canada.
The hell are you so afraid of anyway, Cletus? That the Liberals are going to subject you to the "tyranny" of addressing your hoarding disorder or having to find another hobby?
DeleteYou sound like one of those pipe-sucking Wexit wankers "resisting" the "tyranny" of having to find another job. Boo hoo.
The world doesn't owe you a living nor do you have the "right" to own any particular object, especially one that was specifically designed with the intent to maim or kill. Suck it up, buttercup and get over your sense of entitlement.
People's lives matter more than your castration anxiety, persecution complex, and paranoid delusions about "Justin Castro's" "jackbooted thugs" and a commie under every bed.
This is what true leadership looks like. Not only a crackdown on weapons of war, but an acknowledgment and examination of the psychopathology of toxic masculinity that drives the motivation for these angry and entitled men. And the reaction from aggro immature cons lays bare the obvious source of their abject hatred for Trudeau.
ReplyDeleteWasn't it Skippy who said the root causes of root causes is root causes? Or Harper's dismissal of intersectional analysis he so callously called "committing sociology". Then there's Peter and his little peter displayed so prominently on his sweatshirt. Well no more, never again. I say melt the guns and build a memorial to the victims of all gender-based violence, including and especially gun violence. And why not? Harper got his monument to the casualties of "socialism," after all.
Canada is incredibly fortunate to have a leader and a government who care. The Americans don't, and the ugly infected blemish that is the Second Amendment is a blood pact that appears written in stone. I am so happy to see that the deaths in Nova Scotia and Polytechnique won't have been in vain. I just wish so badly that the U.S. would wisen up and do the same thing here. For our own sake as well as Canada's. Looking at those maniacs storming the state house in Michigan makes me think: it must be really awful for Canadians that the war elephant in the bed is hopped up on steroids, and its poorly regulated militia is calling for a female elected official to be "locked up" or worse. But Gretchen Whitmer and Justin Trudeau are two flickers of hope reminding us all that sanity can indeed prevail.
Hi Simon, thanks for this post. The Con gun nuts are screaming like those terrorist goons in Michigan, but that's only because they don't care about all the victims. I remember how frustrated you were when so many refused to accept that the murderer was just a madman not a violent misogynist. But in the end the Polytechnique women help create a feminist anti-violence movement that will never never be extinguished.
ReplyDelete8 years of Harper let these guns slip through the cracks, the next mountian to climb is all the legal handguns. The point of this whole exercise is like pot legalization. It took a long time, you do it in stages, you make it so prevalent it has to be legal. Thats what the NRA has perfected with guns, except for having an illegal smile you have on average in a month 30 people killed by some pissed of person who has an assault weapon.
ReplyDeleteweak Andy and the whole weak appratucks the let these guns pollute our land are silent.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of an assault rifle is to efficiently kill the enemy in a battle. The only valid reason why a civilian might need one is for fun much like a high powered race car that cannot be driven on public roads but it sure is fun to race on a private track. Attempts to limit assault rifles to gun ranges failed so now they are gone. Too bad get over it. There are lots of materials that are restricted because all of the public cannot be trusted to use them responsibly.... 99.9% trust is not good enough as the .1% have a fatal attraction to them. Try buying explosives, plutonium, machine guns, grenades etc. for fun or experiment on the basis that you do not belong to the .1% crowd.
ReplyDeleteRT
Tell that to the First Nations; this government apparently recognizes their time honoured tradition of hunting with such rifles.
DeleteTell that to the police, who have lobbied to have one of these rifles in each of their cruisers, after having them relabeled as "patrol rifles". Soon, they'll have to find somewhere else to train and practice.
It's not over, it's just begun.
They sure aren't useful for deer hunting. To say nothing of duck hunting!
DeleteActually, I'd love to see motor vehicle ownership restricted (that would more probably be through taxation rather than bans, as even in cities there are people who do need the things due to their jobs, even where there is quality public transport. That is how they handle it in the Netherlands and Denmark. Such measures can also restrict car use in, say, Oslo, and not in subarctic, sparsely-populated regions of Norway: https://www.lifeinnorway.net/here-are-oslos-new-trams/
The symbols used by the Michigan protesters are most worrying. Why Confederate flags in a state bordering Canada? Swastikas? Nooses? Do these morons actually think race-based torture and murder are a human right?
I'm serious about seeking prosecution for a death threat against the PM, and I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about Trudeau than some other people here (but no, I do NOT hate him; I know him slightly as I'm on the board of a community organisation in his riding, just north of mine (tiny, dense urban ridings), and he is most pleasant. It is simply because I vote to the left of his party.
You do NOT make death threats against elected officials, or any human or other sentient beings for that matter.
The symbols used by the Michigan protesters are most worrying. Why Confederate flags in a state bordering Canada? Swastikas? Nooses? Do these morons actually think race-based torture and murder are a human right?
DeleteHi Lagatta
This is the kind of sickness we're currently enduring in the U.S. and why I don't want to see it spread to Canada:
Police probe shooting of security guard in confrontation over mask at Family Dollar
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/03/police-flint-guard-shooting-mask-family-dollar/3075515001/
Michigan State Police investigators are looking into reports that a Flint dollar store security guard was fatally shot Friday after an argument with a customer who refused to wear a mask in the store.
A GoFundMe page was created in the guard's honor. More than $3,000 was raised by Sunday. He leaves behind a wife and eight kids, the page said.
This seems to be the kind of future that our friend Cletus wants. "Resisting" against the "tyranny" of public health.
And I absolutely agree that there should be punitive measures taken against the Sun/Postmedia and anyone else who posts, incites or encourages threats against the prime minister and/or family. The venom that poured out of the troll brigade's orifices against Margaret Trudeau after that apartment fire was gut-churning, and we all remember the "bulletproof vest" incident at the tail end of last year's campaign. Unfortunately, such a crackdown doesn't seem likely to happen, as this has become standard operating procedure for the Republican Party North and their pet propaganda press.
https://thewalrus.ca/wanting-justin-trudeau-dead/
We always hear cherry picked tales about a homeowner defending their family with a gun. How many would have been unsuccessful if assault weapons were banned?
ReplyDeleteThe problem with them being legal is you are a law abiding gun owner right until the second you open fire on a crowd.
This is the same thing a handgun ban does. If you are seen with one, you can be immediately arrested until you prove you are a police officer or other allowed user. You don't have to commit a crime first.
We also, always here cherry picked tales about tragedies, losing sight of the fact that while horrific, are few an far between. How many of them involved legal gun owners? You have to perform mental gymnastics to eventually blame gun owners for the crimes someone else committed. That'd be like sending every responsible, licensed driver feel guilty about motor vehicle accidents.
DeletePeople are law abiding until they aren't...gee, did it take you all day to think of that one. That's how natural justice works, innocent until proven guilty. But what your asking for is the opposite of that, like carding/stop and frisk. I don't know how anyone can be opposed to one, yet support the other and expect to be taken seriously.
Jackie, there is a lovely sculpture group on either side of the Detroit River, between Detroit Michigan and Windsor Ontario, on the Underground Railroad and the crossing to "African" settlements in southwest Ontario.
ReplyDelete