Schooled in violence

In the US, where the number of firearms surpasses the number of country’s population, public places such as schools have been turned into barbaric killing fields almost on a daily basis.

Worse, with the proliferation of war-type rifles during the past few years — as a result of the addition of a mechanical device called “bump stock” into an ordinary rifle to turn it into an automatic one — the US citizensafety situation has become worse.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), seems to be the only private entity responsible for making the US the world’s largest market for firearms.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, presidential candidate Donald Trump received US$30 million from the NRA in campaign funds for the 2016 election — the biggest sum the group has ever given to any presidential candidate.

Other Republican Party lawmakers who received campaign money from the NRA include Senator John McCain (Arizona), who received $7.7 million; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1.3 million; and Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), $3.3 million.

According to the report, the NRA does not support any Democratic Party candidate. On the contrary, most of the group’s money has been spent to help discredit Democratic candidates — to keep them from winning elections.

It looks like money politics has successfully made its way into the US democracy, and the gun lobby is one of the biggest perpetrators. CHAVALIT WANNAWIJITR