Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.A Montreal police officer is dead. A civilian is dead. Another officer was seriously injured. The suspect is dead. That’s the starting point, and it’s grave enough without politicians pretending the investigation is already finished.Canadian news outlets reported that Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, 34, was killed after police responded to reports of a shooter near a Hilton hotel in Côte-des-Neiges.Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher said the suspect was armed with a long gun, that police were met with gunfire, and that investigators were still trying to determine motive. He also said he did not know who shot civilian victim Michel Mizrahi.CBC reported that both Benredouane and Mizrahi were honoured in separate ceremonies, and that Mizrahi was remembered as a generous community member who reportedly helped others flee danger.CTV reported that Benredouane left behind a pregnant wife and a three-year-old child, and that his family asked people to stop sharing graphic videos of his final moments.That’s critical. These were human beings, not props in a policy fight.The Montreal Gazette also reported that the suspect, identified as Seth Hatfield of Lethbridge, AB, was linked to a 104-page manifesto filled with extremist grievance politics, misogyny, and rhetoric associated with incel ideology. The Gazette said it reviewed the document but chose not to publish or link to it to avoid amplifying its message.That’s the correct editorial decision.The manifesto raises serious public-safety questions. So does CTV’s reporting that the RCMP opened a national security investigation into ideologically motivated violent extremism.But those facts do not automatically answer the firearm-policy questions politicians are already eager to exploit..Canadians still need to know where the firearm came from.Was it legally owned? Stolen? Smuggled? Illegally possessed?Was the suspect licenced? Was he prohibited from possessing firearms?Were there prior warning signs? Did any authority miss an opportunity to intervene?Would any proposed federal restriction on licenced owners have changed the outcome?Until those questions are answered, Ottawa has not earned the right to turn this tragedy into another argument against lawful firearms owners.That is especially important because the political reflex has already begun.Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada reportedly called for stricter gun control after the attack. PolySeSouvient renewed calls around the SKS, despite the fact that authorities had not officially confirmed the firearm model.Prime Minister Mark Carney said the federal government is reviewing how firearms are classified and that more must be done.But “more” is not a policy. “More” is a slogan unless the government can explain what failed, who failed, and which specific measure would have prevented this specific attack..Licenced firearms owners in Canada are already screened, regulated, monitored, and bound by storage and transport rules.If this case proves to be about violent extremism, online radicalization, missed warning signs, illegal possession, or enforcement gaps, then another round of restrictions on compliant Canadians is not public safety. It’s political opportunism.The public deserves a serious investigation.The families deserve restraint.Police deserve policies aimed at dangerous people, not press conferences aimed at easy targets.CSSA members should insist on a simple standard: facts first, legislation second.Do not blame hunters, sport shooters, collectors, farmers, indigenous hunters, or other licenced owners unless evidence connects them to the crime.Do not claim a ban would have saved lives unless the government can show how.Do not use a dead police officer and a dead civilian to sell a policy that was written before the facts were known.Public safety begins with evidence.Mark Carney’s Liberal government should hold to that standard.Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
