Sick minds, easy guns are deadly combinations

What would have been a happy ending to a three-day country music event turned into a long night of blood, pain, helplessness and terror. The Route 91 Harvest Festival turned into a combat zone when a 64-year-old decided to interrupt an evening of liveliness and good music with a rapid-fire barrage of bullets. People were suddenly scrambling for any kind of cover. Fear and chaos were unleashed. Over 50 people were reportedly killed and more than 200 injured, making it one of the deadliest shooting in the history of the United States. The incident has painfully refreshed memories of the attack in Manchester earlier this year when the concert of American pop artist Ariana Grande was targeted by a lone wolf terrorist, and of the nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016. Why have events as innocuous as these become battlegrounds for people? Why is hatred finding its way out through guns and bullets in civilian areas? We do not know the motives or state of mind of the killer who chose to decide the fate of a number of innocent revelers. We do not know if he was a terrorist, or a nutcase with a gun in his hand and access to a vantage point. As per reports, he killed himself before the police could enter his hotel room. But the killer accomplished what he set out to — stir anger, hatred and create chaos.

There is no solace in knowing that we live in the age of terror and bigotry. There is no comfort for families in knowing that the person responsible for such a heinous crime is dead, too. US President has offered his ‘warmest condolences’, but that won’t be enough for the bereaved families. As kin of the injured anxiously pray for their recovery, many would be questioning why innocence is being shredded to pieces as men and women armed with lethal weapons pursue whatever political or ideological beliefs they may have. Videos and photographs of this event will haunt us for long, but a lingering question remains: How do we protect our loved ones? Would controlling pervasive gun culture in the US help? Or taking a tough stand on terrorism do the trick? Our thoughts are with the affected families.