Students call for stricter gun control laws

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CTV Montreal

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A group of Montreal university students protested outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s riding office in Montreal on Friday to demand stricter gun control laws.

The students, part of a gun control campaign called ‘Not Here,’ wore targets on their chests as part of their call for more stringent laws.

“We want the government to take action. It’s promised so many things, it promised to take handguns and assault weapons off our streets and what has it done? Nothing,” said Not Here spokesperson Wendy Vasquez.

Also present were students from the Ecole Polytechnique Students’ Association. Polytechnique was the site of a 1989 mass shooting that left 14 women dead and another 14 people injured.

The group pointed to New Zealand as an example, where assault weapons were banned just days after a mass shooting in Christchurch mosques where 50 people died in March.

“This shows that a government can act on the matter,” said Quebec Student Union President Guillaume Lecorps. “This shows how fast they can act when you have the political courage and you make it a priority to act.”

Blair Hagen, spokesperson for the National Firearms Association, said students call to further strengthen federal gun control law Bill-71 was an overreaction, saying the bill already threatens the right to bear arms.

“It’s a knee jerk reaction in regards to demands from the civil disarmament lobby on this government,” he said. “It brings back the registration of rifles and shotguns, it targets law abiding people who apply for firearms licenses, which are required to purchase firearms in Canada.”

RELATED IMAGES Students protest outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's riding office in Montreal to call for stricter gun control laws on Fri., April 19, 2019.