Talks on the more pressing issue of gun control have been intentionally avoided
ISLAMABAD: The recent incident of mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas, US, has shaken the West. Over 50 people have died and over 500 injured. Policymakers have mostly been talking about being united and conducting a thorough surveillance of the hotel security check-in — considering the fact that the shooter could easily bring in a dozen of weapons unnoticed. But talks on the more pressing issue of gun control have been intentionally avoided. It is unfortunate that a superpower cannot take effective steps against gun violence that takes dozens of lives every year.
Annually tens of thousands of deaths and injuries owing to gun violence are reported in the US. In 2013 alone, 73,505 injuries and 33,636 deaths were caused by the use of firearms. But numbers remain as statistics as no measures to curb it has been taken. While the citizens in the US, along with the world, hope that the incident of October 1st will lead to drastic measures being taken against gun violence, history is proof that it’s very unlikely to happen. It is ironic while the US extensively propagates against human rights violations in other states, but fails to practise what it preaches on its home turf.
Ismail Tariq
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2017.
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