Montreal spree killer was Indian

[mehulkamdar]

This is bad news for everyone, especially Indians who are into the shooting sports. The spree killer in Montreal who shot 19 people at a high school yesterday was an Indian, Tanveer Gill. The police shot the SOB in the end but the tragedy is that no one was able to stop him while he went around shooting people.

[Vikram]

Even worse is all the three guns were legally registered.Good grief.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/14jain.htm

[axp817]

He was of "Indian origin". His acts don't reflect anything Indian, in any way, shape, or form. Also, he was influenced by goth culture and he had "death" tendencies, and thats what made him do what he did.

So far, it is only the Indian media (TOI, rediff) that has talked about his being "Indian" - none of the non-Indian news websites I read talked about his ethnicity.

It is really bad if the guns were legal, although I doubt it, I know Canada has really weird laws, and some "restrictive" licenses are needed to buy semi-auto rifles. If he had managed to get a restrictive license, he must have had a very clean record (not even misdemeanours or history of mental issues), of course, assuming Canada has strict purchasing requirements like the US does.

Also, the pics. he was shown with are of a Beretta Storm Carbine, not an AK, like that moron Ajit Jain who wrote the rediff piece, has very conveniently said. Pardon my language, but I hate it when the media adds their own crap to the story.

Anyways, he is dead and I hope that the victims recover soon, and Canada/Iansa don't use this as an example for taking legal guns away.

-N

[mehulkamdar]

Naren,

The British media and the anti gun newspapers in the US (read USA Today, New York Times etc) have all said that the shooter was of "Indian Heritage." The word "heritage" as used by them is troublong to me - it does seem to indicate that Indians are predisposed to violence as a part of their heritage.

I agree completely that Rediff and other crappy websites are interested in adding fuel to the fire. In Canada, the opposition Liberal party is sure to start braying about the closure of their biggest failure by the Conservatives - the gun registry. I find this deeply troubling because in the UK there is another witch hunt by the media against Mick Shepherd (also of Anglo Indian origin) who has beena ccused of owning "automatic" firearms though he didn;lt have any. Like you, I have some language for the slimebags who are involved in this effort to hurt gun owners.

Mehul

[axp817]

The British media and the anti gun newspapers in the US (read USA Today, New York Times etc) have all said that the shooter was of "Indian Heritage." The word "heritage" as used by them is troublong to me - it does seem to indicate that Indians are predisposed to violence as a part of their heritage.

Didn't know this, had only read a couple of news websites. thanks for the info.

Lets hope the Mick Shepherd thing turns out in his favor, didn't know he was Anglo-Indian.

Naren

[ganeshnayak]

Yeah,it is a sad thing to have happened,but I guess such freak accidents occur in all walks of life.
Only hope it is not exaggerated out of proportion.
GN

[bsinha]

"The British media and the anti gun newspapers in the US (read USA Today, New York Times etc) have all said that the shooter was of "Indian Heritage." The word "heritage" as used by them is troublong to me - it does seem to indicate that Indians are predisposed to violence as a part of their heritage."

I don't think there is any danger of Indians getting a reputation for being predisposed to violence based on the actions of a few people.
If anything, Indins probably have the opposite reputation b/c people tend to associate us all with Gandhi, yoga, meditation, etc.
Every discussion of Mr. Gill that I am aware of has seemed to focus on his interest in goth culture far more than his Indian ancestry.
And just a few weeks later, the story is already pretty much out of the headlines.

[mehulkamdar]

The story nmight be out of the headlines in the USA but in Canuckistan it has already prompted a review of the closure of the gun registry, a wasteful failure of the liberals. It has also prompted a review of the gun laws with the Quebec Premier putting on a show worthy of the Oscars with tears in his eyes before the cameras calling for restrictions on gun ownership.

If you think this has not affected Indians, try checking with any Indian post the shooting if he/she has applied for a gun license in that country.

[eljefe]

What about the 4 year olds geting raped in Delhi and the Blue line busses which are knocking down and killing people with a monotonous regularity?
Any one want to hang the rapists or ban these buse services and hang the killer drivers?
Guns dont kill people, people kill people

[Mack The Knife]

A point well made and illustrated, Asif.

Mack The Knife

[bsinha]

The story nmight be out of the headlines in the USA but in Canuckistan it has already prompted a review of the closure of the gun registry, a wasteful failure of the liberals.

If you think this has not affected Indians, try checking with any Indian post the shooting if he/she has applied for a gun license in that country.

Sorry, I'm American so I often forget that Canada is a sovereign nation that actually has their own laws and whatnot.

I have no anecdotal evidence either way, but if any Indian isn't applying for a gun license just because they happen to be the same ethnicity as some nutcase, that seems rather cowardly, don't you think?

[mehulkamdar]

I would say racist instead of cowardly - but then that is just what I was worried about when this tragedy took place...

Yes, living in the USA is vastly different than in other former colonies.

Cheers,

Mehul

[bsinha]

"I would say racist instead of cowardly"

I'm confused, racist on whose part?

[mehulkamdar]

I'm confused, racist on whose part?

On the part of the authorities using ethnicity as a criterion for licensing. Didn;t know thatw as confusing in any way?

[bsinha]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here.

You said "try checking with any Indian post the shooting if he/she has applied for a gun license in that country."

I thought you were implying that Indians were choosing to not apply for gun licenses because of the shooting.
My personal opinion is that this would be cowardly behavior on the part of those Indians, if they are not applying for a license based on the ethnicity of some wacko, when they would otherwise have applied.

Now you're saying that authorities are "using ethnicity as a criterion for licensing."
I agree that this would be racist (on the part of the authorities) and not cowardly (on the part of the Canadian Indians).

However, *are* Canadian authorities actually using ethnicity as a criterion for licensing?
That seems to imply that Indians are applying for licences and being rejected by the authorities based on their ethnicity.
If you are correct, that is a rather serious issue.