The murderous rampage at Montreal's Dawson College that resulted in the death of 18 year-old Anastasia DeSousa brought back haunting memories of L'Ecole Polytechnic and Columbine. The Dawson College shooting made the front page of every newspaper in Canada for days following. Random shootings always rekindled the debate on gun registration in Canada, (as they should), and the question, what if anything could have been done to prevent the cold-blooded murder of an innocent young Canadian?
Secondary to that, academics, psychologists and the general public weighed in heavily on whether or not gaming can be at least partially blamed for violence in our society. (This topic is far to detailed to cover here, but is fodder for a future article).
Whatever side of the gun-registration debate one might find oneself on, I think it is safe to say that the majority of Canadians believe that guns do not belong on campuses.
On this point, Americans differ, as became clear last week when the Utah Supreme Court struck down a ban on guns at the University of Utah. This ban has been in place since the early 1970s. The University of Utah administration refused to lift the ban, choosing to ignore the decision, pending a hearing before the federal courts.
