The Hindu Business Line : When peace on campus was shattered

A Korean student Cho Seung-Hui, who sprayed bullets in classrooms (he began much earlier at the dormitory) on April 16 morning snuffing out 32 lives at Virginia Tech University before turning the gun on himself, was stated to be a loner. MSN news states that he greeted his victims with a polite good morning before opening fire. The incident immediately grabbed headlines all over the world and left ripples in its wake. An animated discussion on the issue at a college almost a 17-hour flight to the east from Virginia.

Rudra: The campus police failed. They knew about the 911 emergency call after which two students were shot but there was no alert.

Rina (wringing her hands): Can't blame them. The campus security people never expected the killer to be on campus.

Faiza: The university administration failed.

Amir: Such killings have been going from time to time, but the US has done nothing to control the sale and possession of firearms. The gun laws of Virginia say clearly that children should not have access to handguns, and if an adult were to transfer possession of a firearm to a child, the adult would be held guilty.

Funnily the same law states unequivocally that no permits or licences are required to purchase or carry rifles, handguns and shotguns, and that the firearms need not be registered. But a licence is required only if the owner wished to hide a handgun.

Rudra: Yes, the Second Amendment guarantees immunity to gun manufacturers. It may seem strange but the laws come down heavily on fluffy toys if these had any possibility of choking a child. There are no such safety norms for firearms. An American citizen can walk into a shop and buy a gun just as we buy rice from a self-help grocery store.

Faiza: And worse, President Bush himself believes that people have a right to bear firearms. In his televised speech expressing sorrow — which of course got a hearty round of applause — he never used the word handgun or firearm. The administration is backing the firearms manufacturers (slaps her forehead). What sort of nation is the US?

Rudra: A nation in which our brightest youth dream to be. Just see the long queue in front of the US consulates and embassy in India (pauses for effect and response; there is silence). I have seen my apartment mates in the US buying high-power rifles, telescopic sights and hollow-point bullets — to hunt deer in the Rockies in winter. But an owner can train it on an unsuspecting victim because he feels the victim has no right to live anymore.

The mental balance of human beings always rests on a knife-edge; seems stable but can be lost easily. It is presumed that people behave rationally, but people with guns do not always behave intelligently. Their outbursts would be more restricted if they had to rely on their fists. With a gun, the balance of power is uneven.

Mohan: It is true that gun laws are a joke in the US. Even a foreign national can buy one at a distress sale or flea market. But there was more to the Cho carnage than is obvious. He may have been a loner but he was no fool. His family migrated to the US from Korea when he was only eight years old and he knew no English.

Just imagine the trauma of a sensitive child who is taunted and laughed at by his peers. So he does what any intelligent, sensitive child would do: shut up, swallow the pride and decide he will master the language.

That is why Cho mastered the language enough to be admitted as a graduate student of English — a long journey from a kid who knew not a word to someone who could teach many Americans how to use the language.

I say naturalised because they are descendants of people who had migrated to what was then `Un-united' States of America, booted out the local inhabitants (the native Indians) and occupied their lands under the Homestead Act, and restricted the rest to reservations with the help of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The country's leaders do not talk about this aspect of history.

Mohan: Youbetcha, Rina! I remember how my student felt when she saw me watching a programme by American Indians in which she was in a group dance, dressed like an American Indian girl. She was extremely shy of her roots.

That's what the Superior Settlers of the Eighteenth Century did to them, and will do to you if you decide to settle in the US of A. and bring up your children in the land where liberty calls. (pauses)

Racy@TheHindu.co.in

http://RacyCases.blogspot.com

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