Liberal MPs were on the attack Tuesday, September 19, using the shootings at Dawson College in Montreal, in which one teenage girl was killed, as a means to attack the Conservative government on its plan to scrap the gun registry. Here is one exchange:

Lucienne Robillard (Westmount—Ville-Marie, Liberal): Mr. Speaker, can we use facts instead of ideology when making decisions? If the Conservative minority government’s bill were in effect today, the 12 gauge hunting rifle found in Hudson yesterday would not have been registered.

    To all the groups asking to keep the registry and in light of all the evidence in favour of it, can the Prime Minister explain the real reasons preventing him from facing the truth?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Mr. Speaker, I think everyone realizes that, unfortunately, a person can be killed with a gun whether that gun was registered or not. We have to look at the facts of the matter. I have asked the RCMP to report the facts to us and to propose actions for ensuring better public safety in the future.

Lucienne Robillard (Westmount—Ville-Marie, Liberal): Mr. Speaker, the minority Conservative government speaks only of penalties and completely ignores prevention. Yesterday, in response to a question on the Dawson shootings, the Prime Minister suggested that legislation imposing mandatory minimum sentences would have prevented the tragedy.

    Could he explain how mandatory minimum sentences would have prevented the Dawson shootings?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Mr. Speaker, I never suggested any such thing. What I have said is that the government and I, as a father of children who go to school, are obviously very concerned that under the existing gun laws the Liberals gave us that somebody like that, an unstable person, could get an arsenal of weapons and go into a school. We will look at the facts and see what we can do to minimize the possibility of that in the future.