It is Time for All
Peoples to Question the 'Right to Bear Arms' (El Espectador,
Colombia)
"How many
lives would it save if a power greater than the state could make access to
firearms more difficult? The same could be said of launching disarmament
campaigns like the one begun early this year by Bogota Mayor Gustavo Pedro. A
gun-free society could be just around the corner. Perhaps the first step is to
stop seeing that as a violation of one’s rights."
Another week, another massacre: It is now being reported that this man, Wade Michael Page, a White supremacist who was ejected by the U.S. military, is responsible for entering a Sikh temple in Wisconson on August 5th and gunning down worshippers. Six were killed.
U.S. citizen James
Holmes enters a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado whilst moviegoers are
watching the latest Batman movie. This creature of the night then proceeds to
shoot left and right at anything that moves. He shoots them in cold blood, like
a soldier in war. With his hair dyed red and wearing a costume, he looks
deranged.
The question that immediately arises is, what leads a man to
do something like this? What could cause him to arm himself to the teeth and
end the life of another human being - or a multitude of human beings? Theories on
criminology were quickly made ready: that the justice system was responsible, or the values
American society propagates - the fame, the fortune - or the personality of people
who would promote movies like these, which subverted the mind of a man who is
the product of a sick society. All of these, taken together, are probably what
led James Holmes - a 24-year-old with good academic performance - to perpetrate
yet another high profile massacre in the United States. Although none of this
is a certainty. Especially when one looks at his trial and attempts to
understand his fathomless expression - the expression of a madman surprised at
what he has done.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
True, the U.S. has certainly witnessed this style of
killing over this century and the last. The wounds left by the Columbine
massacre are still fresh (two students came to school armed and killed 12
classmates and a teacher). Now “zero tolerance” policies will inundate movie
theaters for a time - and perhaps the contents of the films they show. This is a
logical response for the moment, but it doesn’t attack the root cause of the
disease.
Many have sensibly highlighted the debate on the right to
bear arms. In the country to the north, the Second
Amendment of the Constitution states that, “A well regulated militia, being
necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and
bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Despite the fact that this amendment was
enacted two centuries ago and circumstances have changed dramatically since
then, many U.S. citizens continue to defend this sacred right to have a gun.
Holmes bought his online as easily as if he were buying a pair of shoes. With
weapons in hand, and as the criminologists assert, various other endemic factors
playing a role, a time bomb was armed and on its way to the theater in Aurora.
Most disappointing of all is that except for a few
congressmen clamoring for the issue to be debated, very few political voices
have been raised against this right. Presidential candidates Romney and Obama
maintain a stony silence. Meanwhile 270 million loaded weapons rest in civilian
hands. Loaded. Ready to harm someone else. Because this is their only purpose.
While violence in Colombia differs in its causes and
conditions, there is no question about the fact that weapons are also used here, about how they
are used or that they are very easily obtained. It is true that in Colombia a
black market flourishes, and of course, that is one of the key differences. But
at the end of the day, arms makers both here and in the U.S. wield great
economic power and they don’t waste a penny. Meanwhile, whether directly or
indirectly, people are dying in the streets, either by being shot at
directly or being hit by a stray bullet.
How many lives would it save if a power greater than the
state could make access to firearms more difficult? The same could be said of
launching disarmament campaigns like the one begun early this year by Bogota Mayor
Gustavo Pedro and by putting into place stronger disincentives. A gun-free society
could be just around the corner. Perhaps the first step is to stop seeing that
as a violation of one’s rights.
