Beaumont residents deserve answers after multiple neighborhood shootings

In the month of May, there were two separate shooting incidents in Beaumont, Alberta. One of the incidents was done by an individual, who police said had no malicious intent. The bullet hit 6 different homes. Luckily no one was injured.

The second was a drive by shooting which police are still investigating. This incident obviously was not so innocent, and it is still under investigation by the police, and no further details have been released since then.

But it’s the first incident that concerns me. As a responsible gun owner, I have taken measures to safely store my guns and ammunition, as required by Canadian Law. I don’t take them outside to randomly start cleaning them on my front lawn to try and impress the neighborhood, nor do I randomly keep my gun loaded and start playing with the gun outside like a toy. Because that’s just it, they aren’t toys.

Like many other Canadian gun owners, I too was angered at this new gun law that was brought in by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Not only did I feel that it unfairly targeted gun owners, but the effectiveness in actually reducing gun violence was questionable at best. I did understand the outrage that many Canadians (non-gun owners) felt after the unfortunate incident in Nova Scotia. I’m sure that was the outrage that prompted the Prime Minister to feel that he had to do something in order to make a difference (even if that something wouldn’t).

As a Canadian, who wants to remain a gun owner, I’m trying to be understanding of this point of view. That side of the debate holds the majority of the votes. I try to educate my friends and family that are anti-gun that reasonable solutions can be found to gun violence and that incidents like Nova Scotia are not being committed by responsible law-abiding gun owners.

So, imagine my surprise at the callous attitude taken towards the individual who was responsible for the shooting that affected 6 families in Beaumont. The idea that this incident has been somehow spun into a story about someone who simply made a mistake with a gun is shocking. Without jumping to conclusions, I wanted to give time for the RCMP to do their jobs and give them time to report back. I believed mistakenly at that time that our elected officials would reach out to the community and reassure people that things were alright and release more details as to what happened.

But the shooting happened many weeks ago and not so much as a peep has come out from our elected leaders. Despite many opportunities to add positive discussion to Beaumont Talks, there hasn’t been any answers given. Beaumont Talks is a Facebook group that is frequented by many locals and has half the population of that city participating in that group. Residents had asked questions, with many speculating but no one with any actual answers. So why hasn’t the Mayor or any of the Councilors spoken up? Why has the identity of the shooter, who is obviously known, being hidden? If this individual was a minor, then why wasn’t that made public either?

Again, I was giving Beaumont leadership and the RCMP the benefit of the doubt so I contacted them. Messages were left with both. One responded and one didn’t. The RCMP being very polite and provided as much information that they were allowed to provide. The Mayor didn’t bother responding. Giving a quick perusal of a few of the councilor’s social media, no one else seemed to comment or even mention this incident. Why? Why is this the attitude of the City’s Mayor and Councilors? Based on this response you’d think that an incident like this happened every day in in this small city.

Given that many of the population have commented and expressed fear and anger over this issue, answers need to be given. This is an incident this small community deserves having addressed, and it’s an answer that responsible gun owners deserve. Given all the shootings that have occurred in Canada and the United States in the past five years, gun owners shouldn’t have to add to their worries with an irresponsible gun owner giving them a bad image.

We all deserve to have some answers. Who was this person? Why was the name not released? Was their gun license suspended? And if this individual is a minor, did the parent take the appropriate security measures when it came to these firearms? Will the 6 homeowners be compensated?

One thing is clear for sure, the residents of Beaumont deserve a clear answer about this incident.