Parmeshwar Devkota

AS the reckless mass shootings happen in the United States of America, they send chills down the spine of Nepalis here because our hard-working relatives and fellow citizens are living in different parts of that country to pursue their studies and work. The US is obviously the most powerful country, with abundant opportunities for the outsiders. Being the country of migrants, the US accepts a large number of students, and skilled and semi-skilled people from around the world. The US hosts world-class universities, which attract thousands of foreign students.
But, the worst side is that some US citizens not only prefer to carry pistols, AK-47 rifles and other weapons along with them in the streets, shopping malls and restaurants, but also shoot people indiscriminately. If you open a list of mass shootings in the USA in Wikipedia, it shows alarming figures. From January 2021 to till date (16 April), a total of 128 cases of mass shootings have been recorded in America killing as many as 157 innocent people and leaving some 485 injured. We tremble to hear the recurrent shootings because our children might also be the victims of the insane gunmen.
When asked why such a powerful country cannot control gun, it is said that they enjoy the constitutional rights. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution allows them to carry weapons with them for their security. This provision appears strange given the fact that the people are not basically evil.
First, the humankind is gregarious by nature. A person feels comfortable while meeting others. Language cannot be a barrier because we can employ other means of communication as gestures, polite mood and phatic communion and so on. An American citizen cannot be an exception to this theory. If a particular person feels uncomfortable with other people or fears seeing people of colour or race, s/he must have some psychological problems. So, s/he needs proper counselling and medical support.
Unlike the period of president Abraham Lincoln, it is bizarre to carry a gun for personal security, and stroll around the slippery streets of New York or Washington on a horse back. So, it is out-dated idea to carry a gun while in crowds. Even Lincoln, in his first inaugural address in 1861, said, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhibit it. Whenever they shall be weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it”. Here, Lincoln clearly said that the people’s representatives have every right to change or ‘overthrow’ the untimely constitutional provisions for the betterment of their people.
Incumbent President Joe Biden and his administration have every right either to abrogate the untimely clauses of the constitution to stop the murder of innocent people or add new clauses for the same purpose. If Biden, considered as the man of ethics and conscience, fails to change the gun law, the peace-loving Nepali people will be forced to recall what D. H. Lawrence said: “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, a killer”.