Not how to crowd the pandemic out of the headlines - 22 dead in NS

[robkelk]

Despite the fact that everybody's self-isolating, somebody * managed to commit a mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

RCMP officer among 17 confirmed dead in Nova Scotia killing spree

The shooter is also one of the 17 dead.

Const. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year member of the force and mother of two, was identified as the officer killed. A male officer suffered non-life threatening injuries. Lisa McCully, a teacher at Debert Elementary, was also killed in the attack, according to a news release from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Other victims have not yet been identified.

Due to privacy reasons, Leather said he was not able to discuss [REDACTED]'s relationship with the victims, besides saying some of the victims did not appear to have a relationship with the gunman.

* As per my policy of not giving murderers publicity, I'm deliberately not posting the shooter's name.

[robkelk]

Death toll is now at 18, plus the shooter

Because there were so many crime scenes, [RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris] Leather said he didn't know what the final death toll will be. It's also unclear how many people were injured, except that it was at least two.

Teacher, nurse and RCMP officer among victims of N.S. shooting spree

[Black Aeronaut]

Geeze! This ass hole went around masquerading as RCMP and killing people? WTF!

[robkelk]

And by the end of the spree, the victims were random people.

<understatement> Not one of Canada's better weekends. </understatement>

[Black Aeronaut]

Not one of the better weekend for anyone for that matter!

[SilverFang01]

May God grant rest to the victims and solace to the families.

[Star Ranger4]

What is frightening is its clear how both sides of this can spin it to support their own 'covid' agendas.

[robkelk]

If it had anything to do with the pandemic, I would have posted it there.

And there are no "sides" about this issue in Canada. If you see somebody in the States spinning this either way, tell him that I'd really appreciate it if foreigners would butt the Hell out of this tragedy.

[robkelk]

Confirmed body count is now 22.

[Bob Schroeck]

Given that this guy had clearly been planning this for weeks if not months, does anyone have a clue yet what his motive was?

[nocarename]

Reports are that the first victims were closely connected, but as it went on things seem to have become strictly opportunistic. But bodies are still being found where the buildings were burned, and the army has been brought in to support the mounties, so who knows what will be found?

[robkelk]

They didn't have a press conference yesterday, so we don't know whether a note has or hasn't been found.

(I suspect they didn't have a press conference yesterday because they didn't want to have to explain why the cellphone warning system - the one that sends alerts out at the equivalent of Presidential-level importance - wasn't used to warn people that an active shooter was loose. The government has already said that they would have sent out any message that the Mounties asked them to send, but no request was made and no information was provided for the government to be able to write an alert.)

[robkelk]

Investigation proceeds.

CBC has looked through old court cases and found that the shooter plead guilty to an assault charge in 2002. He got a conditional discharge and had to pay a fine.

While a conditional discharge won't appear on someone's criminal record, it may still be flagged at the U.S. border and could prevent someone from being bonded

And if you can't be bonded, you can't be a police officer...

[robkelk]

Short biographies of all 22 victims

Not including the unborn child.

[Rajvik]

Rob, all i will say to this is that i am sorry that it happened, honestly i'm kinda glad you posted it here, it allows me to leave the politics out of it

yall have yours up there, we have ours and they are not the same, gods grace to all of them and their families

[robkelk]

"Thoughts and prayers are not enough."
-- Justin Trudeau

Effective today, private ownership of semi-automatic assault rifles is illegal in Canada.

Current owners have a two-year grace period to turn them in or melt them down.

[Rajvik]

i want to say something, but this isn't politics, and we've argued the point to death, your country, your life

[Labster]

I'll say something useful to you Raj: From what I read Canadians can get export licenses for these weapons, so you might be able to pick up a couple ARs cheaply in the near future.

[Rajvik]

not really a fan of the AR myself, but i know people who are

[Matrix Dragon]

Good on Canada for taking productive action. Now, personally, I hope that they follow up with improvements to proper background checks for people wanting guns. This is the other part of Australia's reforms back in the 90s that lots of people forget, focusing on the 'destroy all the guns' side of things.

[hazard]

The Dutch approach to getting gun licenses.

1) Join a shooting club.
2) Be a member in good standing at that club (this includes not being a criminal).
3) Be so for a full year.
4) Petition the government for a gun license.
5) Be endorsed by members of the club.
6) Wait for the police to decide whether or not you are allowed to have a gun.
7) If licensed, the gun has to remain at the club in a locked safe unless you are using it at the club. If not licensed, you are not allowed to own a gun.


And I'm pretty sure I'm skipping some steps.

[Matrix Dragon]

Assuming common sense is applied, I suspect that Canada will have provisions for hunting, especially given that such things are vitally important for remote areas where commercial supply isn't as cheap as big cities.

[hazard]

There's provisions for hunting in the Netherlands too, but if you want to hunt with a gun you first need a gun license anyway.

[LynnInDenver]

The Dutch system makes sense... to get a gun in any capacity, you basically have to be vetted. A distinct effort to try to significantly weight the system against people who would want a gun as a status thing, or want a gun because "ThE bAds". I'm sure the shooting clubs also have some pretty strict requirements to follow to try to keep a group of people from forming a shooting club just to get around the restrictions, and what sorts of guns are actually allowable even with all the hoops jumped through.

[robkelk]

Good on Canada for taking productive action. Now, personally, I hope that they follow up with improvements to proper background checks for people wanting guns. This is the other part of Australia's reforms back in the 90s that lots of people forget, focusing on the 'destroy all the guns' side of things.

Well, it was an election issue, and a majority of members of the House of Commons (members from four of the five parties) were elected on a platform of getting rid of them, so yeah. The only people who are complaining are the ones who lost the last election.

There's provisions for hunting in the Netherlands too, but if you want to hunt with a gun you first need a gun license anyway.

Likewise in Canada - and Canadian law distinguishes between "people who hunt to survive" and "people who hunt for sport". The rules are much more stringent for the latter group.

EDIT: Here's the relevant legislation, on the Department of Justice's website. (The government of Canada, like the governments of other free countries, puts its federal laws online where people can read them.)