Armed and dangerous

 Following the horrific massacre of 11 Jews at the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue (a Jewish synagogue) in Pittsburgh (USA), on October 28, America is again forced to seriously ponder over the fact that there are too many guns around in the country and it takes only one to pick up one and start killing people. President Trump’s response probably fits the stand of the gun lobby, that guns don’t kill people on their own as those responsible are people who use them wrongly. The shooter, Robert Bowers, 46, of suburban Baldwin, fired from an AR-15 assault rifle and three handguns was also shot and injured after which he surrendered to authorities. Bowers allegedly burst into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood of Pittsburgh and screamed anti-Semitic epithets as he opened fire on the congregants, law enforcement officials said. For the past several decades, the debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States has been characterized by a stalemate between an individual right to bear arms based on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the responsibility of government to prevent crime, maintain order and protect the wellbeing of its citizens. Pitted against each other are those who want stricter control over possession of hand guns and any other weapon and the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) which has successfully opposed gun control in the USA. Those who want the state to exert control over sale and possession of handguns in America believe that strict control will limit handguns in the hands of people. The NRA and its supporters on the other hand, believe that purchase and possession of hand guns is a fundamental right that cannot be denied. The NRA stands on the plea that safety lay in imparting training on handling and use of hand guns and that possessing it was insurance against criminals. The problem is that lax gun controls has saturated American society with a plethora of guns. Further, despite the measures to monitor sale of hand guns, many gun shops sell items over the counter like selling medicines without prescription. Even the measure aimed at penalising such defaulting gun shops is being strongly opposed by the powerful NRA lobby. The bloody carnage is not likely to tip the scales against the NRA and its powerful lobbyists which comprises of billion dollar arms manufacturing industries who contribute generously towards the campaign kitty of politicians. Repeated polling has found that a majority of Americans believe the constitution ensures their right to own a gun, with less than 40 percent of Americans favoring stricter gun laws. Policies and laws in the United States are greatly influenced by power lobbies and the gun lobby is one of them. Gun control would mean tight control on purchases and that would mean inability to sell more guns than needed and therefore, bad for business. The American mania for guns goes back to the history of the nation beginning with cowboys and hunters. By and large, Americans reassert their freedom to own guns for self protection and wouldn’t want any law that makes it difficult for them to buy guns as one would buy books in a store. It is a classic case of having the cake and eating it too but America has to act. It has lost far too many precious lives at the hands of crazy people with too many guns.