Irvin Waller (English and French )
Emeritus Professor, Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences
[email protected]
“For close to 50 years, Canada has required both a gun license and a special license for possessing restricted weapons such as AR rifles, which were recently banned by the federal government. Evidence shows the banning of these assault style weapons reduces the risk of their use in any type of shooting that kills multiple victims at once.
"Still, Canada has a handgun violence problem: 1-in-3 victims of homicide were killed by a firearm, with handguns accounting for nearly half of these. The research suggests that the number of lives lost to handgun violence would be reduced by 50% if cities received aid in identifying the causes to tailor an evidence-based solution before violence happens.
These solutions require sustained funding for programs largely targeted to young men (who are most involved in violence) and should include o utreach; school curricula (to increase self-management to stop violence); employment and mentoring.”
Tracy Vaillancourt (English only)
Canada Research Chair in School-Based Mental Health and Violence Prevention, and Full Professor, Faculty of Education
[email protected]
Professor Vaillancourt’s research and expertise examines the links between bullying and mental health, particularly with children, adolescents, and young adults and in schools. She feels that rather than just focusing mental health to reduce mass shooting, restricting access to guns is needed. That is, reducing the means will save lives.