The more things change, the more they stay the same

On May 28, 1975, a shooting took place in my hometown at Brampton Centennial Secondary School that killed three students and wounded several others. But months later, I experienced one of the scariest moments of my life while witnessing the anger and violence-threatening aggressiveness of those who oppose any form of gun control at Liberal MP Ross Milne's town hall.

Prime minister Pierre Trudeau, pictured second left in 1975. That year, the Trudeau government introduced an omnibus justice bill to deal with a range of items, including the abolition of capital punishment. In the wake of the Brampton shooting that year, a modicum of gun control was also proposed in the legislation, writes Allan McGirr. Photograph courtesy of Flickr

Opinion

BY ALLAN MCGIRR

June 2, 2022

WHITE ROCK, B.C.—Every time there is a school shooting, like the most recent on in Ulvade, Texas, I get the cold sweats and experience palpable anxiety from recalling an incident that occurred 47 years ago this week while working as a research assistant on Parliament Hill. On May 28, 1975, a shoo...

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