Editorial
Shocking US school massacre
It is time to address the core issue
Twenty children, all aged between six and seven, and six women, died in the assault on Sandy Hook school by a young man who then killed himself. Among those was his mother too. We join all in expressing our sorrow to the grieving community in Newtown Connecticut, USA and in sharing their grief.
Such catastrophes, regrettably, are not new to the Americans. They have gone through it too many times. In fact only in 2012 alone there have been 13 mass murders in the US. And all of them involved firearms held legally or illegally, some of which were assault weapons that are being used in many theaters of war today. In fact of the 62 mass murders carried out in the US since 1982, three quarters of the 139 firearms used by the killers, some of who were mentally deranged, were held legally. Of these, more than 60 were semi-automatic handguns and over 30 were assault weapons.
Given that guns are so readily available in the US and the fact that majority of the victims have been unsuspecting children and women, how does the US go about, what President Obama said, “Protecting its children�
We feel that it was time the US got hold of the bull by the horns. It has to choose between individual safety and collective security. And in a country that has an estimated 300 million guns and that the people are permitted by the constitution to carry guns, the urgency is even more acute. Given that the US National Rifle Association is a very strong lobby against gun control and has the backing of the Republican Party too, and given that there has been a trend of moving away from greater control, it will not be an easy job for President Obama.
However, the US citizens must wake up to the new reality that somehow a strong violent streak has permeated their culture and mass availability of killing machines is threatening their lives rather than providing them protection.
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