Seriously people, why is anyone talking about this at all? A crazy crackhead shot a guy with a hunting rifle, a grossly impractical weapon for man-killing in an indoor setting that makes enough noise to signal his location and threat to everyone for blocks around, and almost certainly guarantees that he will be caught because he’s grossly outnumbered and mentally incompetent. This is not terrorism. It is not political. It’s barely even a real crime, because that implies more intent than it’s fair to impute - it’s a tragic mental breakdown resulting in the tragic death of an innocent bystander. It is the same sad story that plays out in dimly lit alleys and ghettos across North America on a day-to-day basis. Drug addled people with mental problems being left to wander the streets without supervision is a serious issue. Drug addled, mentally ill people being able to obtain firearms, that’s also a serious issue. But these are all general systemic problems, not ones that are specific to this event, and a narrow focus on this event virtually guarantees that nothing useful will be done to prevent its recurrence (and indeed I’d be very surprised if no one else has been shot by a cracked out loon since then.)
Stark difference between a reservist performing a ceremonial duty unarmed & professional soldiers engaged in hostilities overseas.
But it brings up another thought, Military culture corrupts many if not all. That is why it should be limited to the military & kept entirely in check within it as much as possible. Another reason to stand up & refuse the government when it tries to militarize police, expand police powers on flimsy notions or incidental events,
Shit-tons of people do join the military because they like to fire weapons. I don’t have a problem with that as long as the govt holds the reins tightly.
As for Cory, who knows why he immigrated, but the act doesn’t cancel his franchise in any way. I immigrated to Canada from the US, mostly for love, but it pleased me to find a place that until recently was having a good go at making social democracy work pretty well. I still vote in the US, I still care about people there, I still have my complete franchise. I will renounce someday, would have probably by now but it is difficult & I am busy living. I’ll bet if Cory was ever Canadian then he still is. It’s a part of being a Canadian that leaves, even forever, that you remain Canadian. “Ex-pat” is a funny term when applied to Canadians.
Does it politicize the reservists death or the act of causing it to demand that the entire incident be dealt with according to criminal law, as it ought be, instead of ratcheting it up to a military thing or an excuse to erode civil liberties? Somewhat. So what?
Yeah, very true; guess I was a bit slow on the uptake there, realized after posting.
One of the negative aspects of living in a free society is occasionally someone is going to do harm to someone else. That is just the reality of the world.
Living in a society made “safe” enough to keep you free from harm would require a totalitarian government.
Interesting you choose the Swiss and Japan as an example. Japan has strict firearms control, whereas Switzerland are tightening control.
Not that I don’t agree with you view on cultural differences. Example of an ongoing discusion in Switzerland and United States comparison: http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-01-31/gun-control-debate-rages-switzerland-offers-interesting-correlation-it-real
I’m hoping you are a troll. If not, and you believe what you say, I am willing to lower the tone of the conversation, and call you an ass.
The only difference between a reservist and a member of the regular force is the amount of training and experience. They are beholden to the same oaths, laws and regulations. There will be a gamut of motivations, but the same ones will be found in both full and part-time service.
Based on the soldiers I have met over the decades, I would feel safe is suggesting that Cpl. Cirillo’s volunteering to serve as an honour guard at the War Memorial/Tomb of the Unknown Soldier had nothing to do with ‘padding his resume’ or playing dress-up. He went to show his respect for those who served before; who fought and sometimes died.
Much has been written of the motivations of soldiers in the past 100 years, I’ll let you study that on your own time.
I can’t imagine Churchill fitting into a closet.
That’s what I said he was doing, by agreeing with Cory’s summation of why he served & died.
You need to learn /s & always read posts that are being replied to before reading replies if you want to know the score.
As for reservists in peacetime service & professionals deployed in a hostile situation, which is the comparison I was answering, with some /s, which do you think will whether because of trauma, conditioning or predisposition be more likely to commit the atrocities like the Somalian example given? Because that is the comparison I was presented. My answer was that it is not a valid comparison.
Re-read the posts+replies in sequence & you’ll see I’m not disrespecting soldiers, despite my being an ass. Yes, I have read up on the subject, that and my own family history of soldiering is why I bucked the trend & didn’t serve.
Much as I dislike the horrible old bastard, I couldn’t imagine him hiding full stop.
(or Teddy for that matter. Fuck, that would have been some confrontation…)
Nice doorway to being forced into a classist society. This is precisely why governments do not deserve to have agenda of their own. This puts them in a privileged position, rather than simply being delegates for their superiors, the citizens. Of course there are pockets of latent classism present in some strata of society. But laws which give (supposedly representative) government and citizens different rights and responsibilities effectively make “class” into law, Pursuing this as status quo while hoping for civility and equality is a fool’s errand. It’s the very mechanism which allows authoritarianism to exist, and is deliberately used to enable this eventuality.
Hoping that people will instead find peaceful ways to complain about the purposeful inequities of society has never been a workable strategy.
Uh, I think the word you meant was ‘emigrated’. Cory was born in Toronto. I do believe that his UK citizenship doesn’t preclude dual citizenship.
And of course none of those factors could possibly come into play when it comes to other migrants, and why they chose to come to Canada (especially since Canada’s single-payer system is more socialised than the UK’s).
So you’re saying that those who truly want to defend a nation’s core liberal and pluralistic values do not actually become full-time, professional soldiers and actually fight for those values, but instead demonstrate their sincerity and integrity by becoming part-time reservists serving in ceremonial posts. I’m not sure I buy that logic.
I’m not saying it does. I’m saying that if anyone should understand that people migrate for a variety of reasons—and not simply the reasons he has chosen to project upon other migrants—it is him.
Ye Gods! Well said Cory.
boingboing remains a crisp and invigorating breath of fresh air in an otherwise stinking torrent of hot air and bullshit. bravo.
Over 9% of US presidents have been assassinated by gunmen and yet we still don’t have the level of gun control that Canada has. We simply have our separate histories which shape our national psyche in ways that Canadians can’t understand.
We violently overthrew British rule. Canadians asked politely about 30 years ago if they could be allowed to leave, but of course, keep the Queen as monarch. That kind of difference in history can radically affect how one perceives violence, guns and the value attached to liberty.
Well, of course there could be all sorts of factors. I don’t recall saying otherwise. I’m clearly missing the point (maybe even on purpose) that you’re dancing around. A person almost always emigrates from/migrates to for a large set of reasons.
In Cory’s case, he stated that he would never take up residence in a country that doesn’t have socialized medicine. That’s why he’s not living in the 'States. As to whether it’s more or less socialized than Canada’s? I haven’t spent much time and effort lately on the question. But consider this: you report that you can get alternate/private health insurance in the UK. OK then: the cost of prescription drugs is covered by the NHS, unlike Canada. I say, Canada 1, UK 1.
Exactly. There are always a wide variety of reasons why anyone does anything, from joining military reserves or migrating. And yet the existence of a wide spectrum of reasons, Cory has chosen to impute very specific reasons for why Carcillo joined and what he died for, as well as why immigrant chose to come to Canada over all the other options they have. Given Cory himself emigrated from Canada to countries that are less pluralistic and liberal, it seems disingenuous for him to say that what draws immigration to Canada is pluralism—apparently he is excepted from the framework he applies to other migrants.
Oh, I understand the differences in mentality between Commonwealth Canada and the nation to our south that was born in revolution. It’s that the commentator on CNN didn’t, as his suggestion that arming average Canadian citizens as a response to this incident is one that would have struck the vast majority of Canadians as grotesque.
Visited Parliament last year. Had to line up and go through airline style security. They took away a pen knife (but unlike the airlines, gave it back afterwards).
Harper has been harping for years about the terrorist threat, but didn’t upgrade this lame security. Now that he has his own mini-9/11 he is promising new legislation within days. Pretty quick legislative work - or has it been sitting on a shelf waiting for something like this?
Except the shooter didn’t use a handgun. He used a long gun. Are you not the least bit interested in how a man with multiple violent criminal convictions, mental health issues, and crack habit managed to get his hands on a long gun? I am.
And if we’re talking statistical correlation, there is actually 100% correlation between incidents of people with mental illnesses shooting off rifles in the parliament building and the abolishment of the long gun registry.
Improving your SENSE of security, and actually improving your security are two different things.
