What's changed, and what hasn't since the Dawson shooting

In the aftermath of the 2006 shootingat Montreal'sDawson College, which claimed the lifeof 18-year-old Anastasia DeSousa and left 16 others wounded, gun control dominated public policy debates.

As it did following the 1989 cole Polytechnique massacre, there was a fleeting moment after the Dawson shooting when support for stricter gun control enjoyed consensus across the political spectrum.

When members of Quebec's National Assembly gathered in November 2007 to vote on a bill that further restricted the presence of firearms in public places a bill dubbedAnastasia's lawit received unanimous support.

But in the years since then, the federal long-gun registry has been dismantled and Quebec's gun lobby has become more vocal and more organized.

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So what has happened to gun control in the 10 years since the shooting?

Calls remain for increased gun control

Just as survivors of thePolytechnique massacre went on to become prominent gun control advocates, so too have survivors of the Dawson shooting.

Hayder Khadim, whowas shot in the head and neck by Dawson gunmanKimveerGill, devoted much of the past decade to pushingfor laws that would ban civilians from possessing military-gradeassault rifles.

The weaponGill used was a Beretta Storm CX4, a semi-automatic rifle similar to versions popular with militaries and police forces around the world.Gill bought the weaponwith his restricted firearms permit.

• 10 years after Dawson shooting, killer's weapon is more accessible than in 2005

TheBerettacan fire multiple shots without being manually reloaded.It remains available for purchase.

"It's a war weapon. I don't understand why it should be accessible to a normal civilian," Khadim told CBC Montreal in 2011.

Khadim, who remains an advocate for gun control,said Monday he continues to hope for strengthened gun control.

Dawson shooting survivor on working for social change

8 years ago

Duration 1:13

Hayder Khadim speaks about Dawson shooting

Registry undone

Under Stephen Harper, the Conservative government opted to scrap the long-gun registry, much to the dismay of many Dawson victims and their families.

Long criticized by Harper as wasteful and unnecessary,the registry was dismantled in 2012.

"We have registration of all handguns, already. We have registration of all restricted weapons, already," Harper said in 2015, in defence of the move.

"Our view and I think it's been borne out by the facts is that we simply don't need another very expensive and not effective registry."

• The rise and fall of the long-gun registry

Quebec gets its own

This summer, members of theNational Assembly voted 99-8 in favour of replacing the long-gun registry with a provincial version.

The new registry, set to be in place in 2018,will require all firearms in the province to have a serial number, which will be recorded in a database.Gun sales will also have to be signalled to authorities.

Supporters, includingLouise de Sousa, Anastasia's mother, celebrated its passing.

"I screamed. I was ecstatic. I was so happy," de Sousasaid at the time."It won't stop every single shooting there might be. But if it stops one that makes a difference."

• Quebec to get its own gun registry

Plus a change

But whilethe gun registry bill passed easily when it finally came to a vote,all parties were lobbied intensely by pro-gun groups in the province.

Pro-gun protests targeted riding offices of several rural members of the National Assembly, and apetition calling for the bill to be scrapped garnered more than 36,000 signatures.

"It's useless and ineffective," said Gino Marra, a member of the pro-gun lobby group Tous contre un registre Qubcois des armes feu.

"Itcreates a false senseof security. It won't change anything and it's going to cost a bundle."

• Quebec'slong-gun registry facing fight from galvanized gun lobby

But the impending Quebec registry aside,Marradoesn't believe much has changed for gun owners in the province since the Dawson shooting.

Legislation brought in by theConservatives in 2015has made it easier to move restricted firearms, he said. But overall,gun laws are no morelenient, or stricter, than they were before the Dawson shooting.

"Over the last decade it didn't change much, other than the registry that was abolished,"Marrasaid.

"I still think that Canadianlaws are among the strictest gun laws in the world," he added. "Ithink the laws are more thanenough."