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But according to Friedman, for anyone to suggest that the registry could have prevented the brazen shooting is “absurd.” It was, he argued, mainly an investigative tool that helped “pick up some of the pieces afterward.”

“People shouldn’t feel any sense of comfort because once you pull the gun from the dead gunman’s hands you’ll have an easier time tracing it. That has nothing to do with prevention.”

Why did that poor soldier at the War Memorial not have ammunition in his rifle? — Solomon Friedman

Tougher penalties for possession of an illegal firearm would also have been unlikely to deter someone like Zehaf Bibeau, who had seemingly decided to kill several people in cold blood, Friedman said. Murder carries a much longer prison sentence.

“You can have a hundred laws, but people who are intent on doing evil will do evil. … The gun control question I would ask out of all this is: Why did that poor soldier at the War Memorial not have ammunition in his rifle?”

Soldiers standing guard at the War Memorial have weapons, but they are not loaded.

mmuise@montrealgazette.com

Twitter.com/monique_muise