Multiple groups advocating for gun control in Canada have written to RCMP urging transparency in their investigation into the mass killing in Tumbler Ridge in which an 18-year-old shooter killed eight people and sent two more to hospital before dying of self-inflicted wounds.

RCMP say they are investigating four firearms, two retrieved from the shooter’s home where she killed her mother and younger half-sibling, and two from the school where she killed and wounded several students and an educator.

An unregistered shotgun was used in the home, RCMP have said, and a modified rifle was found at the school, but police have not otherwise released information about the makes and models of the firearms being investigated.

There have also been questions about the legal status of the guns as police say they had previously seized firearms from the home using red flag laws but they were later returned. The shotgun found at the home, police said, was not among the weapons seized.

“As leading advocates for gun violence prevention in Canada, we are alarmed and disappointed that the RCMP has not yet disclosed basic information about the models and legal status of the firearms used, given the potential for this information to strengthen public safety and prevent more mass shootings in Canada,” reads the letter, dated March 10, from gun control groups to RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme.

PolySeSouvient leads call for transparency

Its lead signatory is Heidi Rathjen of the organization PolySeSouvient, French for PolyRemembers, an organization formed in the aftermath of the École Polytechnique mass shooting of 1989 in which 18 women were killed by a shooter at the Montreal university.

The other signatories are Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns, Danforth Families for Safe Communities, Angie’s Angels and the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, where six people were killed by a shooter in 2017.

The Tumbler Ridge shooting and investigation come as the federal government rolls out a delayed, politically unpopular and logistically challenging national gun buyback program set up in the wake of a 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia in which a shooter killed 22 people.

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Firearm owners and advocacy groups have argued the policy targets law-abiding gun owners while failing to address the issue of legal ownership.

Both these groups and those calling for gun control have argued RCMP should release more information about the firearms used in the Tumbler Ridge shooting so the public can have an informed discussion about the policies surrounding guns in Canada.

The letter from PolySeSouvient states the RCMP should be “transparent with the public about the guns used in the school shooting,” calling it “information Canadians expect and deserve.”

It also calls for details on why firearms were previously seized from the shooter’s home and then returned, saying it is of “great interest to the victims’ families and the public.”

RCMP say no new details as investigation underway

That call echoes one made by Rod Giltaca, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, who previously told CBC News there needs to be “accountability” for what decision-making and policies led to the firearms being returned “to a clearly inappropriate environment.”

On that, the RCMP have said the lawful owner petitioned successfully for the firearms to be returned after they were seized, and that police followed proper protocol and laws. They have also said that case is sealed due to a minor being involved at the time.

RCMP also told CBC News that further details about the Tumbler Ridge shooting, including the firearms used, are not being made available as the investigation into the shooting is underway.

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