New Quebec gun legislation, Anastasia's law, now in effect

Quebec's new gun control legislation, Bill 9,came into force Monday.

The legislation is dubbedAnastasia's law in memory of 18-year-old Anastasia DeSousa, who was killed during the September 2006 Dawson College shooting.

The law bans the possession of firearms in schools and daycare centres, and on public and school transportation.

Fines for contravening the law forbidding firearm possession on those premises range from $500 to $5,000.

Under the new rules, teachers, gun club owners, and public transit and health-care workers are also required to report suspicious behaviour relating to firearms, even if it contradicts doctor-patientor any other confidentiality.

Further, there will be mandatory supervision of target practice where restricted and banned firearms are in use.

'These are small measures'

Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control says the new law is a step in the right direction.

"These are small measures, but improvements are always incremental," she said in a phone interview.

Cukier praises the law's provision on reporting suspicious behaviour.

"A lot of the information about risk factors is not in police databases, but in the community," she said. "It's giving police additional tools as well as resources and will have an impact."

While Canada's gun control laws are largely a federal responsibility, Cukier noted that provincial legislation can strengthen the federal laws and limit loopholes.

Quebec's new laws were drafted after Kimveer Gill killed De Sousa during a shooting rampage at Dawson College. Another 20 people were injured.

Quebec now has some of the strictest gun control laws in Canada.

Montreal's cole Polytechnique massacre in 1989, where a gunman shot and killed 14 women,led the federal government to toughen gun laws.

Cukier will continue to lobby for stricter gun control.

She noted that Gill possessed a semi-automatic weapon and was a member of a gun club.

"We're still working to ensure that military-style weapons are not available to civilians," she said.