Okay, so it has been a week and a half and there has been this one entry that I have been meaning to make, then last night I had an idea for another post - which will come in a few days time - but this morning there is something that I just need to get off my chest.
As some of your know, prior to getting involved in teaching I came from a background in politics. In fact, I was a professional political organizer for four years working with a variety of Members of Parliament, Senators and candidates for office. Political issues are still near and dear to my heart, even though I try to divorce myself from them (as they serve me little use in the realm of education and I have my dissertation to be thinking about at the moment).
Almost seventeen years ago fourteen women were killed in Montreal in what became known at the
École Polytechnique massacre. I was only in grade nine at the time, but I can remember the event quite vividly and it was probably one of the first major events that shaped my own political views. In addition to the impact that it had on me, it also helped to shape the current gun control legislation and firearms registry that we have in place in Canada.
Coming from a rural province, while I believed in the concept of gun control the people whom were part of my everyday life were much like the gun owners that were most upset with this legislation - hunters, collectors, and law-abiding citizens. It was something I was always torn over, but usually came down on the side of protecting the rights of many (to live in a society freer of gun-related crime) than to protect the rights of the few (the gun owners themselves). Part of that collectiveness that makes us Canadians I guess.
Now, however, after having been living in the United States for the past three years, there is no debate in my mind. Gun control and the registry of firearms are two measures that MUST be maintained. There is a reason why the gun-related crime in the United States is so out of proportion with other developed nations in North America, Western European, and Southwestern Asia - the rest of us have gun control legislation and the United States doesn't.
This past May, when I was back in Newfoundland collecting my data for my dissertation it was reported that the new fascist, I mean conservative government was getting rid of the firearms registry - no doubt the first in a series of moves to revert to American-style gun control (as our unmandated Prime Minister seems to look up to his unduly elected American counterpart).
Let the events of yesterday in Montreal serve as a reminder that events like these are a common occurance in the United States - and the reason for that is because of the current regime of gun control, including the firearms registry, that we have in Canada. Can you really put a price on public safety and isn't what you are proposing Prime Minister Harper too high a price?
Tags: Dawson College, Montreal, Montreal Massacre, gun control
There's another series of them here - http://www.bushparty.com/htms/hockeylogos.htm
