What does it take for non-Americans to see that has nothing to do with gun laws?
Hi Slobodan,
I'm disheartened by your remark, it suggests that the situation will not improve, on the contrary. If Americans are blind to their own issues, how could they change the situation for the better?
Surely one must understand that
one of the issues that led up to this shooting, is racial profiling. That often gets out-of-hand because the suspects, of an every day misdemeanor (but also felonies), do carry guns or are assumed/believed to do so. Police officers with hand on gun, or drawn, mistake the moves or intentions of the person in front of them, and shoot first, then ask. Gun possession of civilians increases the risk of mistakes and accidents, for all concerned.
This is on top of social and ethnic discrimination, which is another problem, but related.
This particular event (it's not really an incident, because it will happen again) also has other tragic aspects to it, some of which will never be fully understood because the assumed perpetrator was killed by a targeted explosion. But it seems that his frustration about ethnic inequality and marginalization, played a role. Having easy access to guns only helped him to vent his anger in the way he did, but no doubt he would have found an alternative means if guns had not been so easy to get hold of.
But one of the core issues is gun possession (leading to over-reaction and accidents, and enable a simple way to exert lethal force), aren't there enough deaths already to prove that?
Cheers,
Bart
