{"id":113,"date":"2009-06-18T12:28:48","date_gmt":"2009-06-18T19:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/?p=113"},"modified":"2009-06-18T12:28:48","modified_gmt":"2009-06-18T19:28:48","slug":"montreal-massacre-alternate-endings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/?p=113","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Massacre: Alternate Endings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The italicized text below is from the online article at http:\/\/www.diarmani.com\/Articles\/Armani\/Alternate%20Endings.htm<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I find it interesting because as I get to know myself better and work on my problems, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure that if in the face of danger would I be one of the 7 mentioned in the article below, or in the group that walked out. In some respects, I have a similar time with what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left of my marriage. Who are we really – I suppose we only know when put to the test.<\/p>\n


\nMontreal Massacre: Alternate Endings<\/em><\/p>\n

By Christopher di Armani<\/em><\/p>\n

Gamil Gharbi single-handledly changed the face of Canadian gun politics. He became the embodiment of everything that man-hating feminists despise. In their horror and fear they lashed out at every Canadian male, and continue to do so today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Someone said at the time, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The blood of these fourteen women are on the hands of every man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Complete and utter garbage, but the national media lapped it up. <\/em><\/p>\n

But what was the real problem in Montreal that fateful December day? Was it a lack of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gun control\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Not according to the Montreal Coroner Teresa Z. Sourour. She said quite clearly the exact opposite, not that anyone in government or the media noticed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The issue of firearms control has intentionally not been addressed. With the unlimited ammunition and time that Marc L\u00c3\u00a9pine (Gamil Gharbi) had available to him, he would probably have been able to achieve similar results even with a conventional hunting weapon, which itself is readily accessible.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nIndeed it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until 2004, a full fifteen years after the event, that we were finally able to get the government to translate her report into English. (see diArmani.com for Ms. Sourour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full report. [doc format])<\/em><\/p>\n

Was it the failure of mental health officials? I doubt it. We did not have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thought police\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in 1989 (and thankfully do not today either), and until this event, Mr. Gharbi apparently didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exhibit much in the way of abnormal psychology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Was it the failure of police responding to the scene? Ms. Sourour said yes. I disagree. Sure, they formed a perimeter and sat outside waiting until Gharbi offed himself, but that is not the root cause of the high death toll.
\nThe failure that day was with our manhood. Or more to the point, our lack of one. For thirty years or more, men had been \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trained\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to be obedient, to do what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re told, to be more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153feminine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, less \u00e2\u20ac\u0153manly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.
\nSo they did exactly what the lunatic with the gun said. They abandoned their sisters to a sure and horrific death.<\/em><\/p>\n

They left the room.<\/em><\/p>\n

I pray that the faces of those fourteen dead women haunt every single male who did as Gharbi ordered, every single night for the remainder of their spineless lives. They were there when it counted. They could have saved the lives of their fellow students and they chose not to. Shame on them all. They failed the woman, they failed themselves, and they failed Canada.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imagine, for a moment, two alternative endings to Montreal on December 6, 1989.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imagine that a single one of those men had the courage to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine if he had gathered his thoughts and his courage, and simply stormed Gharbi. Sure, he might have been shot, even killed. But his actions would have showed clear leadership, and surely one or two other men would have joined the battle. Gharbi would have been taken down in the very first classroom, with perhaps three or four wounded or dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a far cry from 14 dead & 29 wounded.<\/em><\/p>\n

But wait! you say, That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never going to happen! Who in their right mind is going to confront an armed madman in a school shooting? <\/em><\/p>\n

Nobody!<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you sure?<\/em><\/p>\n

Because there are 7 young men at the Thurston High School in Oregon who are living proof you are wrong.
\nYes, the young man leading the counter-attack, Jacob Ryker, was shot multiple times. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let that stop him. He continued on until the man with the gun was disarmed, and he lived to tell about it. Not only that, he was awarded the highest honour in the Boy Scouts of America for his bravery and leadership. (http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/stories\/1998\/08\/11\/national\/main8610.shtml)<\/em><\/p>\n

Now let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s look at another scenario, one that seems to disturb so many Canadians today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine our laws were different.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine that, instead of doing their best to disarm every Canadian, our government believed in our inherent right to defend ourselves. Imagine they had the common sense and the decency to promote lawful concealed carry for any law-abiding citizen that can meet the same proficiency with firearms and use of force training as our police officers. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that difficult a threshold.<\/em><\/p>\n

Had there been a single law-abiding citizen with a concealed handgun in Montreal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s l\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Ecole Polytechnique that fateful day in 1989, the outcome would have been different. It would have been swift and effective.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gharbi pulls his rifle out of his duffel bag and points it at someone. He might even get a shot or two off. Then some man or woman with the foresight (and the training) to carry would have stopped him dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

We wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be holding candle-light vigils for fourteen dead women, believing that if we just blame enough men for the tragedy, it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen again. The cold, brutal reality is so completely the opposite. <\/em><\/p>\n

Look at every school shooting in North America and what do they all have in common? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gun-Free Zones\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Every school has, as its published policy, no legal firearms permitted. <\/em><\/p>\n

It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help in Columbine. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help in Tabor. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help in Virginia Tech. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help in Dawson College. And it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help in l\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Ecole Polytechnique in 1989. Nor will it help the next time some unbalanced individual with a gun goes on a shooting rampage in the next \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gun-free zone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The time has come to stop pretending we can light a candle to stop the violence. The time has come to focus on solutions that work. <\/em><\/p>\n

Guaranteeing the death of our young people is not something we should be proud of, yet that is what we do every time we legislate another \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gun-free zone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/em><\/p>\n

The only people who obey the rules are the law-abiding. People like you and me. <\/em><\/p>\n

We do not walk into a school or a mall and start shooting people. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yet we are the very people the state demands be defenseless in the face of evil.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time that changed. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time our politicians paid attention to us and the real solution we offer. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time concealed carry was made accessible again. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, I said again. <\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so long ago that concealed carry was a realistic option in Canada, and obtaining a concealed carry permit wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a big deal.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already legal. The law is on the books. Our bureaucrats simply deny every application that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meet their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153criteria\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. (read every application)<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tell our elected politicians we want them to take control of the unelected bureaucracy and make concealed carry accessible to ordinary Canadian Citizens. <\/em><\/p>\n

Again.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Christopher di Armani is a freelance writer and filmmaker who resides in Lytton, BC, Canada, with his wife Lynda and their two dogs, Koda and Tuco.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christopher can be contacted at christopher(at)diArmani.com or http:\/\/www.diArmani.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The italicized text below is from the online article at http:\/\/www.diarmani.com\/Articles\/Armani\/Alternate%20Endings.htm\u00c2\u00a0 I find it interesting because as I get to know myself better and work on my problems, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure that if in the face of danger would I be one of the 7 mentioned in the article below, or in the group that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unscriptural.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}