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The moment I heard about the
shooting in the Baptist church in Sutherland, Texas, I recalled the first
incident of sporadic shooting that I had ever heard of, which was in Texas on August 1, 1966. Charles Whitman, a young architectural
engineering student, at the University of Texas in Austin, started shooting at students from the Clock
Tower of the university and killing 13
people at the time.
There was no Al Qaeda at the
time, nor were any Daesh or ISIL to blame for all the violence that prevails in
the US. It was a young American who
simply went bezerk. And it seems to be
the case in this latest shooting. My
heart goes out to the families of the victims, and I am sure people all over
will condemn such an act.
However, unless there are laws that control the use of
arms that are so easily available in the US, or even ban them completely, we will continue
to hear of such tragic stories. Unfortunately,
the arms industry is a very profitable industry and those involved in it will
continue to block any legislation against banning it. One should not belittle the role of the movie
industry as well. All those violent
films certainly play a crucial role in inspiring young men to be creative in
violent acts. In fact, it is not
surprising that they inspire foreign governments and liberation movements as
well, to use some of the tactics that they learn from the films that show how
the US disposes of regimes or people that are not in their good books or
challenge their policies.
I should think that our only
hope are the women; the mothers and wives of all those victims. Maybe they would be the ones to lead a campaign
for a legislation that would control or completely ban the use of arms.
