THERE is no other way to describe the Las Vegas mass shooting — it was a massacre. The incident, which defied all logic, was simply a senseless loss of 59 innocent lives.
I won’t bring you back to the crime scene or reiterate the ridiculous number of firearms, explosives and ammunition the shooter had at his disposal. What I would like to share is my concern on the rise in the number of mass shootings each year.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there has been 1,516 mass shootings in the last 1,735 days in the United States and 346 people have been killed in the US this year.
It is not just an American problem. It was only two years ago in Paris when terrorists carried out coordinated attacks, resulting in the deaths of 130 people.
As I sit in a cafe looking over the lunch menu, two children across the room were proudly showing off their toy guns. While I am not a child behavioural specialist and cannot be certain if it has a direct influence on any forthcoming violent behaviour by the child, I believe that allowing children to play with toy guns has no benefits.
A quick search online will reveal a divided opinion. There are those who believe that the more you stop them, the more these kids will yearn for toy guns. There are also those who view these toys as the reason for increased aggression.
In my humble opinion, we should have zero tolerance when it comes to the right to bear arms for civilians.
Most countries have firearm laws or gun control policies, which regulate the manufacture, sale, possession and use of guns by civilians. There are some which have constitutions that guarantee civilians the right to bear arms, such as the US, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Studies have shown that residents in the US, which has the most firearms per capita in the world, are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than people in other developed nations.
By the time you finish reading this, 30 people would probably have been shot dead in the US over the last 24 hours. That is a horrifying statistic.
Now, let’s compare that to Japan, which has near zero tolerance for gun ownership. They recorded only six gun deaths in 2014.
Malaysia has strict firearms laws built around the Arms Act, Firearms Act and Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971. Using a gun for crimes is punishable by death while anyone caught in possession of firearms without a licence can be jailed up to 14 years and get six strokes of the cane.
As rightly pointed out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, peace and security had allowed the country to do well in the Global Peace Index and Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018.
Let’s remind ourselves — and parents with toy gun-toting children — that the right to continue holding our loved ones in our arms each night is more important than fighting for the right to bear arms.