US must strictly control firearms ownership
THE national tragedy that recently befell the United States of America in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock shot dead 59 and injured more than 500 people deserves to be looked at dispassionately to urge and help those with authority and means to take preventive and/ or corrective measures.
Various mass media have already recorded that the extremely sad incident was the worst of its type in American living memory. There have been others of less serious magnitude in terms of the numbers of victims.
It is inevitable for the stunned world to ask how such a ghastly deed could occur in a nation all of whose leaders would like their country’s governance to be treated as a global model.
Similarly, analytical observers cannot avoid laying the blame for the occurrence of such tragedies in the US at the doors of primarily the state and federal lawmakers of that vast land.
The USA is one nation where any citizen who wants a firearm and has the financial means can purchase one, or more. That is obviously supported by a federal constitutional clause or amendment whose origin dates as far back as September 17, 1787, when delegates representing the 13 founding states crafted the original US federal constitution.
In those turbulent years, it was vital in America for every white settler to be armed as they were ruthlessly exterminating the Red Indians, the indigenous people of that continent, which is including South America.
That need for Americans to be armed has long been overtaken by the extermination of Red Indians not only by arms of war, but also by drugs such as alcohol, starvation, disease and miscegenation.
It is significant to point out that the USA’s national motto says: “In God We Trust”, and is printed on that country’s bank notes. The motto does not say: “In The Gun We Trust.”
The very first white settlers and adventurers going as far back as Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vesipuci and later the Pilgrim Fathers were ardent Christians and their faith or “trust” in God was unquestionable.
Right up to this very day, the largest number of Protestants (Methodists, Episcopalians, Disciples of Christ, Congregationalists Lutherans and others) is found in the United States. It is these same people who buy and use guns to kill, at times, school children, and innocent people of God.
It is those same people who pass laws that facilitate the procurement of firearms. How can they reconcile their religious beliefs with their anti-life legislative and other violent actions?
It is also very much out of their cultural character that people who claim to be Christians and to “trust” in God find it acceptable to legalise the consumption of drugs in their very states.
That tragic environment, coupled with the unbelievably easy availability of firearms, is worsened by the uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages 24 hours per day, seven days a week!
Americans, that is to say US citizens, should always remember that their country holds the world’s shameful record of the highest number of assassinations of national leaders.
Victims of such wanton murders range from Malcolm X to Abraham Lincoln, not to forget people such as Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
It is simply not understandable, not to say acceptable, that in spite of all these dastardly crimes committed by means of the gun in the United States, the legislatures of the various component states, as well as the federal congress itself have not completely outlawed the possession of guns within the US borders.
If outlawing firearms would be or is considered to be too drastic, stiff conditions could be introduced to make it possible for a very, very insignificant number to be able to purchase “one”, (and the emphasis should be on “one”) firearm during their lifetime.
It is certainly not a sign of wise national leadership for a nation to be always grieving because of the same cause.
Americans should introspect to find out why some of them find it acceptable to behave unnaturally as is the case with those who marry people of the same sex as themselves, and those who commit mass murder.
Why is it, for example, that whereas some US citizens came into this world through the normal (natural) reproductive process, they think it is right to behave unnaturally by marrying same sex partners?
Such unnatural behaviour may be indicative of a deep rooted hatred of children or even adult people at large. Guns in the hands of such unnatural individuals could be turned against those that these individuals abhor (or fear). That hatred or fear may be worsened by the consumption of drugs and/ or alcoholic beverages.
National leadership needs must always involve a strong advisory element in spite of the fact that leaders have the prerogative to take decisions.
Leadership carries such responsibilities as controlling, educating, guiding and/or counselling, initiating, adopting, modifying, protecting, investigating and assisting.
Communities usually need to be controlled in their social, cultural, economic and political activities. Controls are usually accompanied by educational measures to avoid excesses. These two responsibilities are necessarily carried out through social and cultural activities such as entertainment and religious worshipping.
Guiding and counselling are inevitable in young and developing communities especially during moral, financial and funeral crises and or occasions as is the present case with the victims of the Las Vegas tragedy. Leaders just have to say what they are planning to do to avert a recurrence of such bloody incidents.
Many a time leaders have to initiate ideas that create development projects. There may be occasions when such projects are adaptations or modifications of other communities’ ideas or programmes.
Such projects may include security measures that protect local communities and their respective environments. Neighbourhood watch committees are good examples of such adaptations of foreign security practices.
Had the hotel where Stephen Paddock stayed and accumulated an arsenal of more than 40 guns adopted a neighbourhood watch committee security system, it is possible that some of the committee members could have noticed the man’s weapons — amassing actions early.
We need to appreciate that security cover a very wide range of activities ranging from religious fanaticism to political extremism, from untrammelled economic self-aggrandisement characterised by an uncontrollable urge to gamble, to deep-rooted dandyism such as is exhibited by some utterly unrealistic political aspirants who live in a non-existent cloud cuckoo-land.
All these are potentially dangerous anti-social elements who expect communities in which they live to accept, acknowledge and support their dreams. They turn against society and/or against themselves sooner or later to show their disappointment.
In view of the high incidence of such crime as the recent Las Vegas tragedy one would have thought every American hotel would require each of its would-be clients to fill a form indicating whether or not they have a firearm, and if so, to surrender it or them to the hotel’s security department.
It would also be helpful for would-be hotel clients to indicate whether or not they consume drugs and if so, what kind. The form could also require the would-be client to state what his or her hobby is. Such forms would be filled as a federal and state legal requirement, of course.
The safe practice to follow concerning the procurement of firearms in any nation is to make it virtually impossible for the vast majority of citizens to possess them. Firearms should be carried only by security personnel while on duty.
US citizens should not think that they are less American when they are not armed than when they are. In fact, an unarmed civilian is safer to the world at large than an armed one.
Similarly, if we consider objectively the way guns have been irresponsibly used in the United States of America we can rightly conclude that an armed USA civilian poses danger to other Americans than an unarmed one. That is worsened by the consumption of drugs such as marijuana, and any other hallucinogenic substances, including alcohol.
With their relatively high Christian belief levels and educational standards, US citizens and residents should be able to realise that the possession of the firearms coupled with legalised consumption of whatever hallucinogenic drugs invariably leads to one tragedy or another.
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayobased journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. sgwakuba@gmail.com