The shocking incident of gun violence at Virginia Tech University on Monday which led to the killing of at least thirty three innocent people deserves the highest condemnation. The tragic incident is once again a sad reminder that violence and resort to arms cannot be justified on any grounds. It is also of interest to note that the killings occurred not in far away war torn Iraq or Afghanistan but in the United States where one is not used to experiencing such blood-let. Nevertheless, it is a disturbing trend that such kind of incident is occurring in places of learning—in schools and university of America. The blood-let at Virgina Tech University is not the first of its kind and will certainly not be the last. It is therefore a mounting task for all those concerned in the US, to put their heads together in finding answers on what is going wrong in its society, which prides itself on the values of dialogue and tolerance.
More than anything else, the latest shooting incident will spark a debate on gun control and safety rules especially in schools and colleges across the US. While this should be on the agenda for taking immediate corrective measures, what is also required is a more comprehensive account of what drives young people to such desperate acts of insanity. For this, a much more holistic exercise has to be undertaken touching on education curriculum, school system, social system and media culture, problem of stress, depression etc and how all these factors contribute towards violence. A mere attempt on gun control will not serve the purpose. Here, it will not be out of place to suggest that the media in general must bear some responsibility for influencing deviant behaviour among young people, which explains on why such killings are so much prevalent in the United States.
Besides, looking at the root of the problem, the issue of gun control must also be addressed because past records of such incidents would clearly suggest that the availability of guns in the US has made it easier for people to commit murder everywhere, including in schools and colleges. A stricter legal regime must be put in place to ban weapons and limit its access to the general population. In this regard, it is unfortunate that US President George W Bush has in the wake of the tragedy attempted to politicize the event by going as far as to state that as a matter of policy, it is okay (a right) for people to bear arms and only that all laws must be followed. What Bush has stated is wrong because such irresponsibility on the part of the President will only legitimize demands for more guns and their access into private hands. Hopefully the media in the US will play its due assigned role to both initiate a rational dialogue on the nature of all forms of violence and also to curb its own liberal instinct by putting a lid to projecting a culture of violence, which is no doubt fueling gun violence and homicide among young Americans.
