Instead, we should be focused on training these women to defend themselves against violence. That will ultimately lead to their safety."
Oh, that is just wrong! I'm wondering if that was an American troll? Although, if one read the comment boards on the Globe and Mail, they would see that our friend, Trozz, is not alone. Frightening to say the least!
From that comment, I can only infer that he wants everyone to pack a gun. Teaching women to defend themselves? Am I the only one who sees how unintelligent that sounds?
I wonder if Nathalie Provost, who did attempt to reason with Lepine, would agree with that? She confirms that Lepine was obviously deranged:
"He wasn't someone who wanted to relate. Marc LĂ©pine was in an altered state. You have to be, to do something like he did; basic human nature doesn't let you. The man I saw wasn't someone who was focused on his acts, and he didn't want to relate. The eyes were dark"
Are Trozz and those who share his beliefs suggesting that everyone in schools should pack a gun?
Let's assume that someone at the school did brandish a weapon: What good would that have done? Lepine was a madman on a mission: to kill women. Someone like that would not be afraid of a loaded gun pointing at them, if anything, it would have made him crazier. They generally don't care about their own safety. This was a man who felt he had nothing left to lose; that life as he knew it was over. Does one honestly think pointing a gun at someone like Lepine that day, or even Kimveer Gill, the shooter of the Dawson College shootings in 2006 would have scared them away? Not likely. In fact, there would have been far more casualties. Do we really want our schools or even our workplaces and other public places turning into the OK Corral?
Pittsky: "...See the organizations that debase the memory of these women for what they really are: A group of angry, scared and grieving people who would rather blame men and guns for all of their problems than tackle the real issues. "
To say that women's groups and so many others are blaming men; all men for the Polytechnique Massacre is oversimplifying things to say the least. If this were true, many of those surviving women would never have gotten married or had children, like Nathalie Provost, herself.
Pittsky: what are those real issues? The issue is violence. Another would be how those with mental health issues have fallen and still do fall through the cracks. Definitely more needs to be done about mental illness. More needs to be done to prevent violence: violence in general; not just against women. All have a right to be safe in their schools as well as anywhere else.
There are many who feel that Ms Provost is not qualified to talk about gun control. I think that staring at the barrel of a gun, watching your life flash before her eyes definitely qualifies her.
Many speak of the militant feminists. Nathalie Provost never considered herself one. As she said, they were just women who were studying to achieve their chosen profession: engineering. This was exactly what she told Lepine when she was trying to reason with him.