Shooting at Dawson College

Today a man armed with an automatic weapon attacked the students and teachers of Dawson College CEGEP in downtown Montreal today. As of the most recent news, one woman has been killed and many more have been injured. This is a horrible tragedy. No one should have to fear going to school. No one should have to wonder whether a gun-toting maniac is going to attack their school. My deepest sympathies go out to the family of the woman who was killed, to those who were wounded and continue to suffer, and to those students who are too scared and traumatized to ever return to their school. My thoughts go out as well to all the emergency workers who did everything they could to save the lives and ease the suffering of those who had been shot.

When I first heard about this story, the announcer on CTV NewsNet was simply mentioning shooting and Dawson College, but not that Dawson is a CEGEP school. My sister recently began classes at McGill University in Montreal, and for the five minutes before the announcer mentioned that Dawson is a CEGEP school I was having a minor panic attack. I was afraid that Dawson might have turned out to be a residence at McGill that my sister could have been visiting. My reaction to this situation was not improved by the fact that my sister was in London during the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks on the transportation system.

We need to make sure that illegal weapons stop making their way into Canada. No one needs an automatic rifle for anything. If the gun hadn't been automatic the number of dead and wounded could well have been much lower. We must pass tougher laws to keep illegal guns out of our country.

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