BlogHer - Former Student Arrested After Taking Hostages at Regina High School - Comments

Frightening Times

Gypsy505 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:28:17 -0600

I am so relieved to not have school age children anymore, however I do have grandchildren who are just starting school. This is such a frightening trend. It is so hard to imagine living in a world where you fear for your life while at school. But then living with that threat is a common occurance for many in the world today, sad as it may seem.

Rebecca/AvaBaby's/www.avababys.com

Wow

ioptics — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:42:15 -0500

That is so crazy.

Dana H

www.iopticsvisual.com

Education and ??????

repliderium.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:42:52 -0500

Changing the licensing would truly do little or nothing to help with the problem- It would however be helpful if kids in urban areas grew up with the same gun education and respect level. The illegal weapons issue is a whole other story tied to a bag of problems that causes a trickle down effect. Whether licensing or illegal weapons or avaliability, I think the gun problem in North America, not just Canada, needs to be revisited with more than just a cursory glance. I don't know what the solution is, I only know that the current situation is not working, though few leaders will touch it for fear of it becoming a "hot button" issue. (especially of late with 3 elections in a 4 year period)

That is true

sassymonkey — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:40:13 -0500

But I don't believe changing the minor licensing would do much. The shootings at Dawson College, Concordia and Ecole Polytechnique were all committed by legal adults. It's also my understand (I could be incorrect) that the two shooting in Toronto in recent years were committed with illegal handguns (and one of the three shooters involved there was a legal adult).

The problem in urban areas largely isn't with legal guns, but with illegal weapons. Changing the existing law to prevent minors from legally handling guns won't change that.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

The Exception

repliderium.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:25:29 -0500

I get what you're saying and completely agree- the rural areas of our country utilize guns for an entierly different purpose and are- for the most part- raised with a different view of them. However, the unfortunate fact remains that the gun licensing applies to the whole country, including the urban areas that more often see guns as weapons rather than tools.

Hunting and Sustainability

sassymonkey — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:14:16 -0500

There are limits to what they are allowed to use the firearm for with a minor license - it's for hunting and target practice only (think teens training for biathlon). At first it does seem bizarre but if you look at it from a rural and northern angle, it does make sense. There are still Canadians who rely on what they hunt to get their families through the winter. Also, in rural areas you can get a tractor's license as young as 14 so some teens that age are driving. There are reasons for the exceptions, but you have to look beyond urban areas to understand them.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Guns & ammo

repliderium.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:56:20 -0500

I know this is only an aside from the real issue but isn't it terrifying to think that for a "minor" license in Canada (to borrow or use non-restricted firearms) you need only be a minimum of 12 years old. To pruchase, the minimum age is 18. Think about that for a second....

You're not responsible enough to drink, vote, smoke or drive, but a firearm? Hell yeah! go ahead! That's scary.

Former Student Arrested After Taking Hostages at Regina High School

sassymonkey — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:56:48 -0500

A former student of Luther College High School, a private Christian high school in Regina, Sask., was arrested after holding students hostage today. The individual reportedly entered the school during morning prayer and held a pastor at gunpoint in front of a chapel service. The student was allegedly expelled last year. No shots were fired and there were no injuries.

You can find news stories at the following locations:

National Post Coverage
CBC Coverage
CTV Coverage
Regina Leader-Post

We don't normally keep the news turned on all day but after checking the morning headlines we hadn't bothered to change the channel or shut the tv off so the tv was on as the news broke. I was able to watch the news slowly make its way online. I saw the first images from the scene hit the television and internet.

I was really impressed with the National Post coverage which live-blogged events as news rolled in, monitoring Twitter and Facebook as well. A CBC reported posted a message on the school's Facebook page. The local newspaper, the Regina Leader-Post, opened a comment board to get community reaction.

We like to think that school shootings don't happen in Canada. They do. There have been eight since 1975.
May 28, 1975 - Centennial Secondary School (Brampton, Ontario)
October 27, 1975 - St Pius X High School (Ottawa)
December 6, 1989 - École Polytechnique (Montreal)
August 24, 1992 - Concordia University (Montreal)
April 28, 1999 - W.R. Myers High School (Taber, Alberta)
September 13, 2006 - Dawson College (Montreal)
May 23, 2007 - C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute (Toronto)
September 16, 2008 - Bendale Businnes and Technical Institute (Toronto)

Two of those are described as "massacres". It was just last month that six individuals received bravery awards from Canada's Governor General for their efforts in ending the Dawson College shooting.

Nine people were killed in a Finland school shooting today. BlogHer member MomsAgainstBullying said "It serves as a reminder that school bullying and violence are not just home grown here in the United States."

It touches us, Canada.

We don't want to believe that we are becoming desensitized to school violence but Kim at Repliderium thinks that maybe we are finding these incidents at little less shocking than we used to.

It’s almost become the norm. Still horrific and terrible and tragic, but maybe just a little less shocking. That fact alone scares me more than an armed guy walking into a class of his peers because what does that say about us as a whole?

I've now lived in three cities where there have been school shootings. I've watched the live events unfold on the internet and television three times. I gripped the television and frantically hit refresh on the computer to find out which Montreal school was the site of a shooting and put on lockdown to find out if I had friends were there. I remember the 14 women who were killed at École Polytechnique and those that have died in the other shootings.

I didn't have to add more names to my list of Canadians that need to be remembered today. And I never want to.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.