On 6 December we commemorate the eighteenth anniversary of the Montreal massacre, when a gunman shot and killed 14 women, and injured a further 13 people at L'École Polytechnique de Montréal.
The assailant used a semi-automatic military weapon, which he owned legally despite a history of antisocial behaviour. After committing suicide, he was identified only after police conducted a store-by-store search in the Montreal area to see who had recently sold the rifle, because guns were not registered except at the point of sale.
Following the massacre, Canada's gun laws were strengthened in 1991 and 1995, driven by the efforts of the Coalition for Gun Control, which continues to campaign for effective enforcement of these laws.
The changes to Canada's gun laws include a ban on semiautomatic military weapons, central registration of every gun, and continuous screening of gun owners to allow the removal of guns from unstable users.
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