The refusal of our government to check on and track violent criminal offenders with Firearm Prohibition Orders registered against them almost cost some Saskatoon bar patrons their lives on March 3, 2020.

Tyrell Davey, 25, already has an existing Firearm Prohibition Order against him. This piece of paper didn’t stop him from stealing an SKS rifle, loading it, then walking into a Saskatoon pub with it.

He fired two shots before brave bar patrons and staff disarmed him and kept him subdued until Saskatoon Police arrived. Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Jesse Heit, one of patrons in the bar that night, described what happened.

After Davey walked into the bar and fired his first shot into the ceiling, his friend Josh Neudorf engaged the would-be murderer and rammed him into the door of the women’s washroom. They struggled for control of the gun as Heit, another friend and a staff member all joined in.

“I was trying to get the gun away, then another man came in but he wasn’t a bouncer. That’s when the gun popped out of his hands and I just was in shock. I walked out and gave it to the bartender and told him to call 911,” he said.

The men’s actions earned them high praise from Saskatoon Police Inspector Cam McBride.

“Only speculation knows what could’ve happened if they didn’t [disarm the suspect] so certainly from the perspective of the SPS, their actions were commendable and their actions may have prevented something seriously worse.”

Tyrell Davey will remain in custody with out bail, and will also undergo a psychiatric assessment that could find him not criminally responsible for his actions. Given his penchant for violence, I hope that won’t happen.

Tyrell Davey now faces the following charges:

• theft under $5,000
• possession of a weapon obtained by crime
• possession of a dangerous weapon
• unauthorized possession of a firearm
• possession of a firearm and ammunition contrary to order
• discharging a firearm with intent to injure

My questions for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair remain unchanged.

When will you introduce legislation to check on and track violent offenders with Firearm Prohibition Orders against them?

When will you pass legislation to subject these violent offenders to mandatory home inspections and spot checks to ensure they are complying with those orders?

We do this with the least-likely members of our society to endanger public safety, licensed gun owners, so why does our government refuse to apply this same level of scrutiny to repeat violent offenders like Tyrell Davey?

We were lucky this time and nobody got hurt, but we can’t count on good luck to keep Canadians safe.

We must scrutinize the most violent members of our society, those who already have a court-mandated Firearm Prohibition Order against them, to ensure they are complying with those orders.

The longer we wait the more likely it is one of these violent, repeat offenders will kill someone.

Minister Blair, stop pandering to special interest groups and start dealing with the most violent offenders in our society before it’s too late. You don’t want these wholly preventable deaths on your conscience.