US school shooting

Every time there is a horrifying school shooting in US, politicians tear up but never dare speak of ‘gun control’.

In a vicious cycle that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon, every time there is another horrifying school shooting in the US, politicians tear up and offer condolences but never dare utter the phrase ‘gun control’. The latest incident, at an elementary school in the state of Connecticut, which killed 20 children, was no exception. President Barack Obama took to the airwaves and had the requisite crying spell but said nothing about the semiautomatic rifles and shotguns that serve no purpose but to kill other humans as violently, quickly and stealthily as possible. This pattern is likely to be repeated in the coming days as politicians are too afraid to cross the powerful gun lobbyists at the National Rifle Association (NRA). Former NRA head, the late actor Charlton Heston famously said that his guns would only be taken over his corpse. Unfortunately, the bodies belong to helpless schoolchildren.

The case for stricter gun control is airtight. No one is asking for hunting rifles and other types of weapons to be banned. Right now, just getting the most dangerous weapons off the streets should be a priority. The US is both, one of the most heavily-armed and most violent nations in the world. The correlation is obvious for all to see. Multiple studies have shown that gun control leads to a significant decline in violence. As we have seen in Karachi, when people have easy access to weaponry they will invariably use it for violent means.

The most unfortunate part is that the gun lobby is really strong in the US, making it unlikely to spur US politicians into action. One would think that the safety of children in schools would trump the blood-stained money politicians get from the gun lobby but this has not proven to be the case. It will take extraordinarily bold leadership to move the debate on the issue and that has been sadly lacking, with President Obama scarcely better than his predecessors. There is no point mourning over a national tragedy if everyone is just going to return to their normal lives without doing anything to fix the problem. The murdered schoolchildren in Connecticut deserve better.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2012.