America’s continuing problem of mass killing
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Thu, 06 Jun 2019 06:10:25 +0000
THERE has been another mass killing in the United States. A long-time city engineer in the public utilities department of Virginia Beach in the state of Virginia started shooting with his silenced .45 caliber gun at anyone in sight in the building where he worked after 4 p.m. last Friday, May 31. By the time it was over, 13 were dead, including the gunman, and four were wounded.
It was the deadliest attack in the US since a shooting at a bar and grill in California in November, 2018, when 12 were killed. Before that, there were many other, more deadly shooting incidents carried out by lone gunmen with no political goals, just a desire to kill. Thus 58 were killed in an open-air concert in Nevada in 2017, 49 in a nightclub in Florida in 2016, 32 at a university in Virginia in 2007, 26 in a town in Texas in 2007, 26 in an elementary school in Connecticut in 2012, 23 in another town in Texas in 1992, and 21 in another small town in California in 1984.
Each time, there were calls on officials to tighten controls on the sale of weapons, especially automatics with extended magazines and silencers, but there is such strong opposition to any restriction, on the ground that it violates the US Constitution provision on the right of Americans to hold firearms.
After the Florida school killing in 2015, President Trump met with students demanding the enactment of laws restricting the acquisition of high-powered firearms. The president could only suggest a ban on “bump stocks” which can turn a semi-automatic into an automatic capable of spewing out many bullets with one pull of the trigger. He also suggested arming teachers to help protect students. Nothing came of that exchange of views.
Students demonstrated after subsequent mass killings in other schools, but no law was ever passed to restrict gun sales in any way. Several days after the Virginia Beach killing, there has been no move of any kind for stricter gun control.
In contrast, New Zealand acted decisively after a lone gunman killed 50 people and wounded 50 others in two mosques in its capital Christchurch, using semi-automatic weapons with 30-round magazines, two shotguns, and a lever-action firearm, all purchased online. Six days after the incident last March 15, the New Zealand government banned the sale of the powerful weapons used in the shooting.
In Virginia, Mayor Bobby Dyer said, “This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.” The world condoles with him and his city but in the absence of any decisive action like that of New Zealand, Americans must resign themselves to the very likely possibility of another similar mass killing any time soon.