Mr. Roy,
Your points are well thought and very sensible approach towards a far safer America. I am sure, if enough people vote with their feet, something will happen with the US gun laws. But that is not happening as far as I can see. If these gun violence against innocent children or masses starts happening every other week, things might move faster towards far more stricter gun control laws. Ironically, you can find some NRA members within the parents of Sandy Hook dead children. And, there lies the problem.
The biggest elephant in the room is the attitude of certain group of people, who think they own America. Their fear is that they will be marginalized demographically soon or later and thereby loose the "control". Since this attitude is not politically correct or democratic, people have been trying to hide behind the second amendment. It is not that they are scared of commies or outer space aliens, they will take on anybody if their interest is threatened. As long as they are ruled by their own kinds, they will lay down their arms willingly.
Here is my point: If US were a homogenous country, guns would been totally controlled by its citizens and government as they are in China, Japan or many other countries with more or less homogeneous populations.
-Shah. D
From: Avijit <charbak_bd@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2013 11:22 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Re: Gun Control in the USA: Time to Make It Happen
Your points are well thought and very sensible approach towards a far safer America. I am sure, if enough people vote with their feet, something will happen with the US gun laws. But that is not happening as far as I can see. If these gun violence against innocent children or masses starts happening every other week, things might move faster towards far more stricter gun control laws. Ironically, you can find some NRA members within the parents of Sandy Hook dead children. And, there lies the problem.
The biggest elephant in the room is the attitude of certain group of people, who think they own America. Their fear is that they will be marginalized demographically soon or later and thereby loose the "control". Since this attitude is not politically correct or democratic, people have been trying to hide behind the second amendment. It is not that they are scared of commies or outer space aliens, they will take on anybody if their interest is threatened. As long as they are ruled by their own kinds, they will lay down their arms willingly.
Here is my point: If US were a homogenous country, guns would been totally controlled by its citizens and government as they are in China, Japan or many other countries with more or less homogeneous populations.
-Shah. D
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." GBS
From: Avijit <charbak_bd@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2013 11:22 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] Re: Gun Control in the USA: Time to Make It Happen
Right Mr. Subimal Chakrabarty.
If anyone thinks we need more security and protection at schools not less, I am with him. But security in school does not have to be mutually exclusive idea of stricter gun laws for the country as a whole.
As I pointed out (in my article), the US homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in similar countries. For example, Gun-homicide rate per capita in the US is almost 30 times that of Britain and Australia, 10 times that of India, and 4 times that of Switzerland. Nobody will say that the USA contains 30 times more crazy people compared to Britain. However, what the US actually has is easy access to guns.
Something is definitely fundamentally wrong in the USA when we see those statistics. I cited an example from Singapore where I lived for more than eight years and I have seen how the stricter gun-laws prohibited mass killings. I mentioned about an incident as well that just happened few hours ago when a 36-year-old man attacked 22 children at a primary school in China. None of the kids died from that incident since the man in China was only carrying a knife. Imagine what would have happened if he could get a semiautomatic rifle as easily as Adam Lanza could. I can give an example from Japan too --
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/
Some points to ponder from the article :
"what about the country at the other end of the spectrum? What is the role of guns in Japan, the developed world's least firearm-filled nation and perhaps its strictest controller? In 2008, the U.S. had over 12 thousand firearm-related homicides. All of Japan experienced only 11, fewer than were killed at the Aurora shooting alone….
Almost no one in Japan owns a gun. Most kinds are illegal, with onerous restrictions on buying and maintaining the few that are allowed. Even the country's infamous, mafia-like Yakuza tend to forgo guns; the few exceptions tend to become big national news stories."
I am not saying every crime will abruptly get resolved if you apply stricter gun control laws. But when you see fifteen of the worst twenty-five mass shootings in the past half century have occurred in the U.S., then you should think twice before defending existing laws. As Michael R. Bloomberg already pointed out something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns in the next year" if you do not change the law which I think, definitely inspire gun violence.
Avijit
--- In mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@...> wrote:
>
> More security and protection in school will mean more gun sales. It is American Rifle Association's pet idea. Total ban will be unconstitutional and probably undesirable at this time, but restriction of kinds of fire arms a private individual should be allowed to possess legally is not. All loopholes in the licensing, registration, and trades have not inly to be removed, the processes have to be made stricter also. The government should at least achieve this much in the near future.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 1, 2013, at 10:55 AM, Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@...> wrote:
>
> > Gun-culture in the USA is going to be hard for people, like me, to understand as I came to this country from a place, where civilians have no right to bear or own arms; only criminals in the society have arms. I do not understand why it is a sport to hunt animals or be a member of the shooting range. I do not understand why no one complains about violent video games and movies, which fill young impressionable minds with violent outbursts, and make them insensitive to violence and killing. I do not understand why people buy or own so many high power-firearms for personal protections. I do not understand why President cannot halt assault weapon sell to the public right away using his executive power, if he is so touched by the recent event in Connecticut. I do not understand why he is asking senators and congressmen, who are influenced by lobbyist, to do it. I do not understand the cowboy culture in America. So, it is easy for me to ask for the ban of these weapons.
> >
> > I know President said when he was first elected to the office that he wanted to see a strong civilian force as powerful as military, if not more. Do we know what did he mean? He wanted to arm civilians for what, except to fight ideological battle or for personal protection? I know - he did not do it, but - that was the intent. I smelt Pol Pot or Stalin or Mao Tse Tung in the intent of the President, and millions of Americans do so.
> >
> > I believe - banning firearm-ownership will only disarm civilians and empower culprits. Haven't we banned drugs already? Why do we still see thousands of drug related deaths and violence on the street? Now we are begging for legalizing drug. Have we thought about it? I see civilians are ready to surrender their rights, but culprits are not. Have we thought about it?
> >
> > I know �" tragedy happened in Connecticut, but is gun control the solution? Don't we have laws against access to firearms for mentally challenged people? That did not stop this psychopath to get access to the firearms. I think - we need more security and protection at schools, not less.
> >
> > Jiten Roy
> >
> > --- On Mon, 12/31/12, Avijit Roy <charbak_bd@...> wrote:
> >
> > From: Avijit Roy <charbak_bd@...>
> > Subject: [mukto-mona] Gun Control in the USA: Time to Make It Happen
> > To: "Mukto-mona YahooGroups" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
> > Date: Monday, December 31, 2012, 2:21 PM
> >
> >
> > I wrote a blog just after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on the necessity of Gun control in the USA:
> >
> > [Just after the Shikh Temple massacre in Wisconsin a few months ago, Time Magazine published an article titled 'The Case for Gun Control', where the author Fareed Zakaria made a strong case in favor of stricter gun control laws. Although he offered valuable insight concerning the topic, the masses paid him little attention after the media revealed that he had plagiarized a portion of the article.
> >
> > Since then, two more major massacres have taken place. Of them, the recent one was the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that occurred earlier this month in Newtown, Connecticut, where a man armed with two semiautomatic pistols killed 7 adults and 20 children, most of whom were only six years old. ] Read more from here:
> >
> > http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=1564
> >
> > I am glad to see that the modified version has also been appeared in NFB today:
> >
> > http://bangladesh-web.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5829:gun-control-in-the-usa-time-to-make-it-happen&catid=39:highlights&Itemid=438
> >
> > Regards
> > Avijit
> >
>
If anyone thinks we need more security and protection at schools not less, I am with him. But security in school does not have to be mutually exclusive idea of stricter gun laws for the country as a whole.
As I pointed out (in my article), the US homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in similar countries. For example, Gun-homicide rate per capita in the US is almost 30 times that of Britain and Australia, 10 times that of India, and 4 times that of Switzerland. Nobody will say that the USA contains 30 times more crazy people compared to Britain. However, what the US actually has is easy access to guns.
Something is definitely fundamentally wrong in the USA when we see those statistics. I cited an example from Singapore where I lived for more than eight years and I have seen how the stricter gun-laws prohibited mass killings. I mentioned about an incident as well that just happened few hours ago when a 36-year-old man attacked 22 children at a primary school in China. None of the kids died from that incident since the man in China was only carrying a knife. Imagine what would have happened if he could get a semiautomatic rifle as easily as Adam Lanza could. I can give an example from Japan too --
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/
Some points to ponder from the article :
"what about the country at the other end of the spectrum? What is the role of guns in Japan, the developed world's least firearm-filled nation and perhaps its strictest controller? In 2008, the U.S. had over 12 thousand firearm-related homicides. All of Japan experienced only 11, fewer than were killed at the Aurora shooting alone….
Almost no one in Japan owns a gun. Most kinds are illegal, with onerous restrictions on buying and maintaining the few that are allowed. Even the country's infamous, mafia-like Yakuza tend to forgo guns; the few exceptions tend to become big national news stories."
I am not saying every crime will abruptly get resolved if you apply stricter gun control laws. But when you see fifteen of the worst twenty-five mass shootings in the past half century have occurred in the U.S., then you should think twice before defending existing laws. As Michael R. Bloomberg already pointed out something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns in the next year" if you do not change the law which I think, definitely inspire gun violence.
Avijit
--- In mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, Subimal Chakrabarty <subimal@...> wrote:
>
> More security and protection in school will mean more gun sales. It is American Rifle Association's pet idea. Total ban will be unconstitutional and probably undesirable at this time, but restriction of kinds of fire arms a private individual should be allowed to possess legally is not. All loopholes in the licensing, registration, and trades have not inly to be removed, the processes have to be made stricter also. The government should at least achieve this much in the near future.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 1, 2013, at 10:55 AM, Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@...> wrote:
>
> > Gun-culture in the USA is going to be hard for people, like me, to understand as I came to this country from a place, where civilians have no right to bear or own arms; only criminals in the society have arms. I do not understand why it is a sport to hunt animals or be a member of the shooting range. I do not understand why no one complains about violent video games and movies, which fill young impressionable minds with violent outbursts, and make them insensitive to violence and killing. I do not understand why people buy or own so many high power-firearms for personal protections. I do not understand why President cannot halt assault weapon sell to the public right away using his executive power, if he is so touched by the recent event in Connecticut. I do not understand why he is asking senators and congressmen, who are influenced by lobbyist, to do it. I do not understand the cowboy culture in America. So, it is easy for me to ask for the ban of these weapons.
> >
> > I know President said when he was first elected to the office that he wanted to see a strong civilian force as powerful as military, if not more. Do we know what did he mean? He wanted to arm civilians for what, except to fight ideological battle or for personal protection? I know - he did not do it, but - that was the intent. I smelt Pol Pot or Stalin or Mao Tse Tung in the intent of the President, and millions of Americans do so.
> >
> > I believe - banning firearm-ownership will only disarm civilians and empower culprits. Haven't we banned drugs already? Why do we still see thousands of drug related deaths and violence on the street? Now we are begging for legalizing drug. Have we thought about it? I see civilians are ready to surrender their rights, but culprits are not. Have we thought about it?
> >
> > I know �" tragedy happened in Connecticut, but is gun control the solution? Don't we have laws against access to firearms for mentally challenged people? That did not stop this psychopath to get access to the firearms. I think - we need more security and protection at schools, not less.
> >
> > Jiten Roy
> >
> > --- On Mon, 12/31/12, Avijit Roy <charbak_bd@...> wrote:
> >
> > From: Avijit Roy <charbak_bd@...>
> > Subject: [mukto-mona] Gun Control in the USA: Time to Make It Happen
> > To: "Mukto-mona YahooGroups" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
> > Date: Monday, December 31, 2012, 2:21 PM
> >
> >
> > I wrote a blog just after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on the necessity of Gun control in the USA:
> >
> > [Just after the Shikh Temple massacre in Wisconsin a few months ago, Time Magazine published an article titled 'The Case for Gun Control', where the author Fareed Zakaria made a strong case in favor of stricter gun control laws. Although he offered valuable insight concerning the topic, the masses paid him little attention after the media revealed that he had plagiarized a portion of the article.
> >
> > Since then, two more major massacres have taken place. Of them, the recent one was the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that occurred earlier this month in Newtown, Connecticut, where a man armed with two semiautomatic pistols killed 7 adults and 20 children, most of whom were only six years old. ] Read more from here:
> >
> > http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=1564
> >
> > I am glad to see that the modified version has also been appeared in NFB today:
> >
> > http://bangladesh-web.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5829:gun-control-in-the-usa-time-to-make-it-happen&catid=39:highlights&Itemid=438
> >
> > Regards
> > Avijit
> >
>
__._,_.___
