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December 6th: From the Montreal Massacre to Gun Control
On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine walked into the École Polytechnique at the Université de Montral, ordered the men out, and then started shooting at the remaining women with a semi-automatic rifle. He killed fourteen women and wounded thirteen more.The slaughter, motivated by his rage against feminists, shocked the world.
Heidi Rathjen was a student in the building at the time, and for forty-five long minutes she listened to the shots as the killer roamed the building. In the hours and days that followed, as a member of the former student council, she played a leading role in dealing with the media, helping with the funerals, and in organizing the memorial event. She did not know then that her life had been changed.
Rather than continuing to grieve, she decided to do something to help prevent similar tragedies in the future. With the help of Wendy Cukier she organized the national Coalition for Gun Control. This book describes their fight to raise public awareness, gain public support, and then force not just one, but two gun-control bills through Parliament, against the workings of the million-dollar gun lobby. It was an extraordinary campaign, and a political eye-opener for a young woman.
Heidi Rathjen was a student in the building at the time, and for forty-five long minutes she listened to the shots as the killer roamed the building. In the hours and days that followed, as a member of the former student council, she played a leading role in dealing with the media, helping with the funerals, and in organizing the memorial event. She did not know then that her life had been changed.
Rather than continuing to grieve, she decided to do something to help prevent similar tragedies in the future. With the help of Wendy Cukier she organized the national Coalition for Gun Control. This book describes their fight to raise public awareness, gain public support, and then force not just one, but two gun-control bills through Parliament, against the workings of the million-dollar gun lobby. It was an extraordinary campaign, and a political eye-opener for a young woman.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 13, 1999
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December 7, 2024
Today (12/6/2024) is the 35th anniversary of the mass shooting in Montreal (The first, btw. They would end up having a second one a few years later).
At the time of the shooting, I was applying to go to McGill University in Montreal; when Mom heard about this from my grandmother, she was "ummmm are you SURE you want to go to Montreal university?" (I still still suffering severe PTSD from the floods we went through the previous May. Getting as FAR from Texas as I could was one of my goals. And since Montreal was my safe place, what better place to go).
Later, we learned of the details - how the shooting was gender based, with the asshole.. I mean, shooter choosing just women as his victims. (Yeah, both hatred of strong females and mass shootings is nothing new. IT just wasnt getting the far reaching attention that it gets in todays, social media connected world.)
To honor the victims, I read "December 6". This book was written by one of the survivors of the shooting (she was there but wasnt targeted, as luck would have it).
It details how she took her fear and anger and focused on convincing the Canadian government to enact strong gun control laws. (Something I support - I'll spare the "All guns should have an insurance policy associated with it" speech).
Along the way, she had to face a wall of opposition from gun owners, about regulation and banning of certain guns. (And yes - North or South of the border, the argument from gun owners are all the same. And sound stupid). Eventually, laws were passed, to help with gun control and gun violence. (Which I find amusing - a country that cheers on a sport where men strap knives on their feet and are armed with sticks, and where a fist fight can break out during the game, and the winner is the one with the least amount of teeth knocked out, and they want to also have guns!??!?!).
There is one line, on page 140, about one person who is so threaten by the gun control coalition, that he threatens to "Settle it the American Way". (And this was years before the more famous of the American Mass Shootings - Columbine, Parkland High school, Uvalde, El Paso Walmart, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Pulse Nightclub, and Las Vegas. Yeah, United States - you've given the world Mass Causality Shootings. Are you happy?)
At the time of the shooting, I was applying to go to McGill University in Montreal; when Mom heard about this from my grandmother, she was "ummmm are you SURE you want to go to Montreal university?" (I still still suffering severe PTSD from the floods we went through the previous May. Getting as FAR from Texas as I could was one of my goals. And since Montreal was my safe place, what better place to go).
Later, we learned of the details - how the shooting was gender based, with the asshole.. I mean, shooter choosing just women as his victims. (Yeah, both hatred of strong females and mass shootings is nothing new. IT just wasnt getting the far reaching attention that it gets in todays, social media connected world.)
To honor the victims, I read "December 6". This book was written by one of the survivors of the shooting (she was there but wasnt targeted, as luck would have it).
It details how she took her fear and anger and focused on convincing the Canadian government to enact strong gun control laws. (Something I support - I'll spare the "All guns should have an insurance policy associated with it" speech).
Along the way, she had to face a wall of opposition from gun owners, about regulation and banning of certain guns. (And yes - North or South of the border, the argument from gun owners are all the same. And sound stupid). Eventually, laws were passed, to help with gun control and gun violence. (Which I find amusing - a country that cheers on a sport where men strap knives on their feet and are armed with sticks, and where a fist fight can break out during the game, and the winner is the one with the least amount of teeth knocked out, and they want to also have guns!??!?!).
There is one line, on page 140, about one person who is so threaten by the gun control coalition, that he threatens to "Settle it the American Way". (And this was years before the more famous of the American Mass Shootings - Columbine, Parkland High school, Uvalde, El Paso Walmart, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Pulse Nightclub, and Las Vegas. Yeah, United States - you've given the world Mass Causality Shootings. Are you happy?)
December 25, 2020
I found this under underrated books, and let me say...it is underrated. More people should know about this, and it filters into our contemporary discussion on gun control.
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