by B. R. GOWANI
Undated handout photos from various memorial websites show the victims of the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elem. School shootings in Newtown, CT. PHOTO – /Yahoo
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old resident of Newtown, Connecticut, shot his own mother at home, and then he went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in the same town and gunned down 20 children (12 girls and 8 boys). Additionally, he killed six adults; a principal, a school psychiatrist, and four teachers-all of them women. Afterwards, he killed himself.
Guns used by Adam Lanza in shooting owned by Nancy Lanza. PHOTO/Google
Then on Monday, in Utah, a eleven-year-old student was found with a gun at West Kearns Elementary School, in one of the Salt Lake City suburbs. It was for self defense. However, he also pulled that gun on two students. Now he is in police custody.
Like always, there are tears, there are fears of copycat acts, talks of banning assault rifles, more security at schools, talks of teachers and principals carrying guns at schools, and so on. The permanent after-feature of these carnages are discussions on the mental health of the murderers.
Imagine a scenario. The teachers and principals bring guns, students sneak in guns, and then Adam Lanza kind of people show up. What do you have? A boodbath.
Mental condition
Adam Lanza PHOTO/The Guardian
One doesn’t need a PhD to recognize that Lanza’s deadly action itself is a testimony that he was a mentally disturbed person. But the correct way to look at and tackle the gun violence problem is not to waste too much time in assessing Lanza’s mental condition. Instead, what is urgently needed is to evaluate the mental condition of the wise people such as Texas Governor Rick Perry; US House Representative Louie Gohmert (Republican from Texas); West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin; NRA executive vice president and CEO, and a big proponent of bring-your-gun-to-work, Wayne LaPierre; and many others.
Usually, it is not the insane people who do the most harm but it is the so called sane people in power who are the main culprits.
President Obama
On Friday, while talking about the shooting incident, President Barack Obama had tears in his eyes. They were genuine. When such a carnage occurs, most people are bound to feel the pain. And the pain’s severity will be more so for most of those people who have children or are close to children. Because the fear is always lurking at the back of the mind: What if our children were there?
Then on Sunday, Obama spoke at a prayer vigil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfaYUrgcCrY
“We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.”
Yes,we can do much better. Obama, if he is really interested in fighting the NRA, National Rifle Association, and other supporters of gun lobby, including Democratic legislators, he’ll have to attack the lobby with full force and all the resources available at his disposal. He should present his case to people with solid facts and clear logic to make them understand the danger of more than 200 million weapons right now in the hands of the people in the US. It’s just that Obama has to become a bit more bold. He has to take an initiative. He has already appointed Vice President Joe Biden to lead a panel on gun violence. However, Obama should maintain the present momentum gained in the wake of this tragedy.
Prayer vigil
At the prayer vigil, Obama comforted the parents, family members, and friends:
“And that’s what should drive us forward in everything we do for as long as God sees fit to keep us on this Earth.
“‘Let the little children come to me,’ Jesus said, ‘and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’
“Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeline, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Benjamin, Avielle, Allison, God has called them all home.”
There was too much God and no mention of guns at the prayer vigil. Before Obama. Christians, Muslims, and a Jew had recited their prayers and invoked God’s Kingdom.
(One of the God’s men, the Jewish Rabbi, had hours before offering the prayers, told TV people that the people of Newtown should cope with this tragedy, the way the Israelis do against the Palestinian attacks. God’s man couldn’t miss a chance to lie.)
They and Obama should have talked about how many people in the US are killed everyday because of guns. 34 persons, on average, die everyday in the United States. that is, over 12,000 people a year. Since the massacre and the heavy reaction against it, the gun-lovers, fearing some kind of ban, have been on a buying spree. The gun store owners have proudly informed the news channels about an increase in their business.
God
Then there is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a regular on Fox TV, who blamed the carnage on lack of God in schools.
“We’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools have become a place for carnage because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, responsibility, accountability?”
(After the terrorist attacks in the US on September 2001, Pat Robertson and late Jerry Falwell, both of them God’s agents, had blamed the gay life style for the attack.)
Now who is going to tell Huckabee that most of the more than 40 million people on food stamps have Jesus in their heart.
Economic factor
When the measure of progress is seen in terms of how much people are consuming and how much the businesses are able to shove things down their throats; then the simple road to progress is to sale anything and everything.
Just two examples to show how it works.
There are speed limits set up for vehicles. But then there are companies which manufacture devices that detects police cars and allow drivers to slow down. And the companies are legally permitted to operate.
The police in the US carry guns, whereas the people are allowed to buy military style guns that can shoot 100 bullets in a minute.
There are more gun stores in the US than the McDonald restaurants. It’s a sad thing that the gun dealers have raced ahead of the master of junk food. The profits from gun business will reach $1 billion in 2013.
BulletBlocker, a company making bulletproof backpacks and other body armor for children, sells its things with this ad: “Your child’s safety; Your piece of mind, is our business.” The backpacks are sold for price ranging from $200 to $300.
The Amendment II backpacks come in three styles to suit young girls, boys, and teens. PHOTO/The Week
The mental condition of the owners of BulletBlockers should be the topic of discussion too. Instead of joining the people demanding gun control, the company is cashing in on the Newtown tragedy.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com