World’s oldest democracy or Guntantra? India should probe why mass shootings are so common in the US

The statistic is gruesome—39 mass shootings in the first three weeks of 2023. Had it been India, that too a certain state currently in the international media’s cross-hairs, there would be howls of outrage and calls for sanctions if not the resignation of the Prime Minister. But there are no such calls in the country where this is now drearily if not dreadfully commonplace: the US. Worse still, by the time you read this, the tally will have risen further. California and Florida lead in the number of such shootings. So far. Louisiana, Illinois and North Carolina are close behind. It is a grisly leaderboard. A glance at 2022’s shootings show that barely a day went by without a mass shooting, leading up to a grand total of 735 incidents leaving 762 dead, with a further 2,902 injured. July led the chart with 100 shootings (with 84 fatalities) but May was the deadliest month with 91 dead in 69 incidents. On the last day of 2022—December 31—a gunman shot 10 people, killing one and injuring nine in Mobile, Alabama; the year actually ended with an average of 11 mass shooting incidents per week. Alarmingly, the most common targets of mass shootings in the US are family members, and then co-workers. The average person can be forgiven for thinking that bullet-proof vests should be made mandatory in the US, at home as well as outside. Even this year’s grim score does not reflect the extent of the crisis in the US. On 7 January, a six-year-old shot and wounded his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia after an altercation. Neither he nor his deed fell into the category of a ‘mass shooting’ but there is no denying the seriousness of the event: what kind of society and environment makes it seem okay to a first grader to settle disagreements with a gun? Given how common gun violence is in the US, definitions differentiate between the types. The Gun Violence Archive, for instance, defines mass shootings as those in which at least four are shot, excluding the shooter(s). As per the FBI, a mass shooting is “three or more killings in a single incident”. The very matter-of-factness of such definitions should send shivers down the spines of those who live in the US—and aspire to emigrate there. “People kill, not guns” has been the argument in support of the right of individuals to bear arms, the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. It sounds like a ridiculous priority but US was a new nation then, still in the process of taking over territory, whether wildernesses or inhabited by native populations. Grizzly bears, native tribes defending ancestral lands or rival bands of settlers, guns were deemed necessary protection. But now? By contrast, incidentally, when India enacted its Second Amendment to the Constitution as a new nation—some 161 years after the Americans ratified their Second one—its priority was markedly different. It removed the upper population limit for a constituency by amending Article 81(1)(b) of the Constitution so that Lok Sabha MPs could represent 8.5 lakh citizens. Today, of course, that number is 15 lakhs, necessitating delimitation of seats! The two amendments are indicative. One is about the democratic right of Indians to be properly represented, while the other is about a right of (American) individuals based on a situation that has long disappeared—both grizzlies and native Americans are mostly confined to national parks and ‘Indian’ reservations now. And yet, the Americans cling on to this ‘right’, never mind that it gives mass killers that licence—unfortunate pun intended—too. Laws cannot prevent or protect beyond a point. Just outlawing guns or making them difficult to buy or access is only part of the solution. India has very strict laws regarding the purchase and licence of guns but we have a booming ‘katta’ or country-made pistol/revolver industry. Most of those weapons, however, are used in gang warfare, political vendettas and illegal militias. US-style mass shooters—who are neither gangsters nor goons—are rare. The difference is in the nature of society and the way it deals with problems. Mental health, cultural norms and social pressures all play a role; even historical experiences. ‘Manifest destiny’ was a philosophy that gave heft to the early white American ‘settlers’ impulse to push westwards across the continent, expanding farming and mowing down whatever and whoever stood in the way of their turf and their way of life. The same mindset prevails now. While US politicians and lobbies on either side of the gun debate jostle to get the better of each other—making laws that restrict the type of weapons “allowed” and the spaces they can be openly carried—nothing has been done by anyone there to confront the main issue: the Second Amendment. Or rather, the inability or unwillingness to repeal it. This has ensured that the world’s oldest democracy is also, ironically, the world’s most adamant ‘guntantra’. The process to repeal any part of constitutions is justifiably tough. India showed political resolve which led to a total change in the status of Kashmir, using only constitutional norms. To repeal the US Second Amendment the House of Representatives and Senate would need to pass it by a two-thirds majority and then three-fourths (38) of the 50 states would have to ratify it. Is there no Arun Jaitley-like politico-legal brain in the US to make it happen? But then that would only solve part of the problem. American society has to change dramatically first or else the legislators will never have the gumption to even bring it to Capitol Hill. Do people use guns because they are easy to get? Or are ‘mass shooters’ so isolated, misled or detached that they think killing family members, colleagues or even perfect strangers is the solution to what is raging inside them? How did they reach that stage? People in the US have become so inured to mass shootings that after a couple of headline news and trending of social media, it’s back to Trump or Biden bashing or celebrity news. India needs to commission a probe, to draw the attention of Americans to how bad the situation is there. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom had submitted a report on the 2002 Gujarat riots to its House and Senate, remember? India should return the favour. Mass shootings rose even during Covid-prompted restrictions—from 417 in 2019 to 610 in 2020, to 690 in 2021 with a slight dip to 647 in 2022. That six-year-old shooter should make politicians and ordinary people alike move together at last to change society and laws, federal and state, never mind why US settlers enshrined their right to bear arms in the Constitution in the 18th century. Otherwise, 2023 may become another record-breaking year. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.