14.9.06

politics and guns

25 year old kimveer gill went on a shooting rampage wednesday at montreal's dawson college, killing 18 year old anastasia desousa and wounding nineteen others before turning the gun on himself and ending his life.

inevitably, this tragedy has now become a political issue, not because of the fact that he was a loner who didn't make many friends, or because he was into goth culture of violent video games (although those are all things that will be analyzed extensively in the days to come), but more because of what he was armed with when he went on his shooting spree. he had three weapons on him: a 12 gauge shot gun, a glock .45, and a beretta cx4 like the one pictured below:

the debate on the federal gun registry is now heating up once more. the registry, introduced under the former liberal government, ran way over budget, with the current conservative government intending on putting an end to the registry. the quandry of this situation, is that the gunman's weapons were all legally registered to him. this man, it appears as more time passes, seemed to be a man filled with some very negative emotions, most notably hatred towards others and a fetish for death and guns.

the registery would not have been able to prevent this situation from happening, because of how gill was able to pass through the legal hoops that were made to prevent guns from getting into the hands of people like him; ultimately this is more of a social issue with the way people are treated and how they develop during their most impressionable youthful years and how that translates to their latter behavior.

but the registery needs to be kept, because while it could not have prevented this, it is still incredibly useful. for example, if is a domestic dispute happens, it is important for the police to know if there are guns in the household before they go in; what kind of guns, how many, etc. some people called the registery nothing but another attempt at a government cashgrab. well so what? my question is, what in the world does anybody need with a 12 gauge shot gun and a fucking beretta cx4? to hunt? hunt what? for protection? what's the point of the police then?

i understand the alure of guns. i have fired a gun just one in my life, when i was 15. i admit, that there was a strange sensation of strength, of power, but it was not for me. i can see how that same gun in the hands of a different type of person would excite them. but again, i ask, what does anybody need with a beretta cx4, legal or not? at this point, i don't see how anybody can justify to me why they need such a weapon. the only reason for anyone to have such a weapon, would be because of the fetishistic value of it; to just have one. and that's just not a good enough reason. small arms, conventional weapons, have destroyed more lives in this world that nuclear weapons. civilians should not be allowed to have these weapons to begin with.

below is some footage of the beretta cx4 in use. it's semi-automatic nature and ease of use (eg: reloading, shooting) are what makes this weapon popular. just watch this footage, and tell me why any civilian would need a weapon like this.



(source 1) (source 2) (source 3) (source 4)