The Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 innocent schoolchildren were ruthlessly murdered, was a tragedy that brought all of us together for a moment of shared pain. When the victims of a crime are children of only 6 and 7 years of age and who are so mercilessly targeted and so brutally killed, one cannot help but feel overwhelmed with grief and anger regardless of race, religion and culture.
Now, over three weeks later, the initial outrage has subsided and there seems to be little hope of any significant changes in US gun control laws. A background check that identifies the purchaser as a law-abiding citizen of sound mental health is insufficient. Many people who commit violent crimes have no previous criminal record and are respected members of the community. And what if the legally purchased weapons fall into the hands of an infirm person such as in the case of Adam Lanza?
According to US statistical data, hundreds of millions of weapons are in private hands, and mental disorders affect tens of millions of people each year, only a fraction of which receives treatment.
While some blame the powerful gun rights lobby and others an ineffective mental health system, I think few will acknowledge that society at large is at least in part guilty for creating and sustaining a culture of violence and depravity.
Often times parents and lawmakers who should act more responsibly simply look the other way and allow children to be inundated by a culture that promotes disobedience and disrespect toward parents, teachers, the elderly and authority in general.
If anything, the Sandy Hook massacre should incite us to speak out even more boldly and loudly against the growing culture of violence and against lax gun control laws and to search for a solution to a common problem, plaguing not just the US but much of the world.
Unless something is done to stop or at least curb society’s downward spiral into this abyss of self-annihilation, more parents will be grieving over children who have become either the victims or the perpetrators of violent crimes. — Muniza Ali, Riyadh
A culture of violence
