Terror, Even in Schools Contradicts your Assertions….
By Noor UL Shahbaz
The epitome of peace cannot be the country where school going children lost their lives in a terror attack because of the bad policy of government on gun culture. It is not once, twice, thrice but is the 27th incident of school shootings in the current year I-e., 2022. In a tragic incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas USA, 19 students and two teachers lost their lives of no fault on their part and around 50 hurt, they all were innocent and neither had weapons in their hands nor was so powerful that they could stop the killer. One can say that all the innocents were mercilessly, brutally, horrifically, incomprehensibly shot dead or murdered. The staggering death toll makes it the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when a gunman shot and killed 26 people as young as 6 years old at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn USA. And fatalities exceeded those in 2018 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., USA which left 17 dead. The tragic and senseless attack has broken hearts of people all around the world and is considered as the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. Although school shootings have a long history in the United States, the 1990’s were a pivotal point, with high-profile occurrences in such cities as Pearl, Mississippi (1997); West Paducah, Kentucky (1997); Springfield, Oregon (1998); and Jonesboro, Arkansas (1998). However, it was the shootings at Columbia High School in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999 that brought particular urgency to the issue. In that attack, two students – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people before taking their own lives. The shootings garnered massive media attention and sparked a national debate on gun violence. In addition, some schools began taking extra security precautions. Despite such efforts, school shootings continued, with multiple attacks taking place each year. In year 2007 there were about ten such shootings, the most horrific of which occurred at Virginia Tech, where 32 people were killed before the gunman, Cho Seung-Hui from South Korea, took his own life. Later high profile attacks included an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 year old Adam Lanza killed 27 people before committing suicide; shortly before the attack he had also killed his mother in their home. The shooting garnered particular attention due to the age of the victims: twenty of those killed were 6-7 years old. Meaning thereby the phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school shootings, although school shootings have taken place elsewhere in the world. According to studies, factors behind these school shootings include easy access to firearms, family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, and mental illness among many other psychological issues. Among the top most motives of attacker’s were: bullying/persecution/threatened (75%) and revenge (61%), while 54% reported having numerous reasons. The remaining motives included an attempt to solve a problem (34%), suicide or depression (27%), and seeking attention or recognition (24%). Especially in the United States, school shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies, gun rights and gun control. The incident immediately spurred a fresh round of debate among educators and policymakers about gun laws in USA, how to keep students safe and what, if anything, schools can do to be more prepared for an attack. It is pertinent to mention here that in an address to the nation on Tuesday night 24th May, a shaken President Joe Biden called for politicians to take swift action on gun legislation. “I am sick and tired of it, we have to act” Biden said, “and do not tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.” But I think these are the only the words of humour as it is the US Congress who has leniently or adopted a soft policy on licensing to bear arms. Guns are a highly politicised issue, with proponents of gun control pitted against others who zealously defend their constitutionally protected right to bear arms. Through mid-May 2022, the ‘Gun Violence Archive’ a non-profit group, had identified at least 213 mass shootings. The group counted 693 mass shootings last year.
In the United States, gun production has more than tripled in the last 20 years, with 11.3 million firearms expected to be sold in 2020. The number of “ghost guns” manufactured by 3D printers and from kits, increased from 30,238 in 2000 to 1,324,737 in 2020, and was the fastest increasing category. As technology advanced the majority of the growth occurred in the second decade. Over the last five years, only 0.98 percent of suspected “ghost firearms” handed in by law enforcement could be linked to individual buyers, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Between 1968 and 2017, there were 1.5 million firearms deaths in the United States, which is more than the number of soldiers killed in every US combat since the American War for Independence in 1775. More than forty five thousand Americans died at the end of a gun barrel in 2020 than in any other year on record, whether by homicide or suicide. The statistic indicates a 25 per cent increase over the previous five years and a 43 per cent increase over 2010. One of the gutted U.S Senator Chris Murphy made an emotional speech in United States Congress, “What are we doing here?”, “there have been more mass shootings than days in the year……Our kids are living in fear”, “Why go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority if your answer, as the slaughter increases as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?”. The five minute clip went viral in part because he could have been speaking to every American when he said: “This was not inevitable, this only happens in this country and nowhere else…and it is a choice, it is our choice, to let it continue. What are we doing? Off course this is the loud voice from every human across the globe why it happens that school going children are made the targets and the State who proclaims itself the powerful, peaceful is although a failed State to such an extent that it cries aloud on in internal matters of other states but does not maintain the standards of peace itself. Why the United Nations Organisation should not interfere and direct Human Rights Council, UNICEF to intervene and make accountable government of the United States of America for the loss of lives of innocent students and teachers?
Noor UL Shahbaz, M.A, LL.M (GOLD MEDALIST),Guest Lecturer and former Acting Principal at Sopore Law College, can be reached at im1415151819@gmail.com
