Amid guns available aplenty in the US, killings caused by persons with psychological disorders is shocking
Lajpat Lakhanpal
The recent Las Vegas shooting which left 39 dead and more than 500 injured is the worst such incident of the recent times. It has left many people bewildered as to what exactly is wrong in America that we have senseless shootings like Columbine, Sandy Hook, Orlando, San Bernardino.
While some of the killing sprees can be attributed to Islamic terrorists, others have been attributed to people who simply went berserk or had previous histories of psychological disorders. In this case, the investigations are still on, but, it appears to have been meticulously planned. The murderer had many guns, lots of ammunition, and knew exactly where to perch himself (32nd floor of his hotel room )as he executed his plan to rain bullets on unsuspecting fans at a Country Music live concert taking place in an open amphitheatre below. He was booked into the room for five nights and must have gradually stockpiled the weapons and ammo in his room. Most hotels in the US do not scan your baggage, so unless you are openly carrying guns, no one suspects you are bringing them into your room.
It is unclear what his motives were or if any note was recovered from his room after he was found dead. The police and the Swat team did not break into his room until 45 min after his 10 min shooting spree ended. It is said that he had already killed himself when the cops barged in. Two windows were found broken in his room. One, where he was shooting from, and the other, one can only speculate about.
While ISIS has claimed responsibility for the shooting, claiming that the shooter a White American Citizen had converted to Islam a year ago, the FBI within less than 24 hours dismissed the claim. This by itself is surprising to many, since no investigation can be complete so soon. Significantly, the shooter’s girlfriend is a US citizen who is originally from the Philippines and also an Australian citizen and had been missing out of the country when the incident happened. Recently it came to light that the shooter had sent the US $100,000 to the Philippines a week back.
While details are still murky, it appears as if his Philippino girlfriend was married to a radical leftist. Some people speculate that she may have influenced the shooter to become unhinged against the Trump supporting Whites. Country music is mostly followed in the Southern states of the US and a lot of them are Republican and probably voted for Trump. While this may be a speculation, it is by no means something people have not thought about. A big-time news organization CBS executive had to resign a few days back for mentioning that she did not feel too bad because most of the dead were purportedly Trump supporters.
While the details are still being sought and the dust has not even settled, the people have started beating yet again their war drums to reign in the guns. There are already hundreds of gun laws on the books, but they are gunning to ban all guns. It is impossible for this to occur in a country where the “right to bear arms” is enshrined in the Constitution. And criminals and whackos will always get guns somehow. The law against automatic guns did not prevent this
shooter from obtaining one. Unfortunately, the problem is that mentally unstable people can buy them in the
secondary market. If their mental health is there for all to see, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and others will scream murder. People have to give up some freedoms for the general good of society, but the gun-haters wants to “have the cake, and eat it too”. There are too many guns in the US – legal and illegal – how do you get them all back ?
Unfortunately, gun control will also restrict someone's freedom as enshrined in the Constitution, but, given the politicised environment in the US these days where every incident is politicised, hence attempt to vilify Trump. Any common sense approach to solve the real issue is not going to happen. Both parties and all politicians will kick the can down the road, create some “nautanki” to distract people, get themselves into the limelight, and do nothing. In the meantime another six months down the road, another incident will occur and it will be “wash, rinse, repeat” . There is surely a certain order to this madness as I see it.
(The writer is California-based Engineer)
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