Death festival in Las Vegas

Armed attacks and massacre of people in the US topped the news headlines in the world for a few days.

Freedom of carrying and usage of gun continues in the US; yet it is a matter of concern and a serious challenge for just a few officials and the lawmakers to ban this unbridled freedom in the country; for, the lobbies affiliated to the arms manufacturing factories have control over power centers. Hence, due to economic interests they permit carrying and usage of firearms even at the expense of killing American citizens and violating their rights.

Serial shooting and armed attacks do not end in the US. Sometimes police officials target black people with any pretext and occasionally citizens open fire on the neighbors and ordinary people on the streets. A safe and secure life has turned into an unattainable dream in the US. Continuous shooting with firearms has sometimes led to the massacre of American citizens. Recently, in the deadliest massacre in the contemporary US history, nearly 60 people were killed and over 400 injured in Las Vegas, Nevada. News sources say, the murderer began shooting at the crowd at a music concert from the 32^nd floor of Casino hotel of Mandalay Bay on the main street of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas police declared that in the wake of the shooting, at least 406 people were transferred to hospitals and medical centers. The news sources have identified the killer as the 64-year-old Stephen Paddock. Stephen Paddock lived in a small town called Mesquite in the northeast of Las Vegas in a retired neighborhood. Joseph Lombardo, Las Vegas Sherriff, said the police searched Paddock's home after the attack and found "more than 18 weapons, some explosives, and several cartridges, along with a number of electronic devices." According to him, the police also found "ammonium nitrate" in his car and the explosive found at his house was "Tanright". David Famigliette, a gun dealer, said Paddock had bought weapons last spring from his shop in northern Las Vegas and the sales were conducted “lawfully” and claimed that there were no “red flags” that might have prevented the sale.  In general, he secretly had 42 weapons, one of which was automatic, and two of them were semi-automatic. He carried 23 weapons for use in the incident of shooting at his hotel room. Also, thousands of bullets and ammunition were found in his hotel room, allowing him to continue shooting for 72 minutes.

Over the past 20 years, a large number of American citizens have been killed in countless bouts of shootings on streets, colleges and elsewhere. The Las Vegas event has been the deadliest shooting in the US since 1949 and the number of dead was more than that of Orlando in 2016 which claimed the lives of 49 people in a nightclub. In continuation, we review the list of the most lethal shootings in the US over the past two decades.

An armed man attacked a night club in Orlando on June 12, 2016, killing 49 people. The murderer was an American citizen named Omar Matin and was killed in clash with the police. He had made allegiance with the Daesh terrorists and after a while, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack. 23-year-old South Korean student, Seong Hui Chu, attended the ceremony at the Virginia University Parade in April 2007 and killed 27 students and 5 professors and then committed suicide.

Also, a 20-year-old American, named Adam Lanza, killed his mother in December 2012 before killing 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown Connecticut and then committed suicide. In October 1991, George Henrad, 35-year-old American citizen, killed 22 people at a restaurant in Kylan before committing suicide. Further instances were San Bernardino shooting in 2015 with 14 dead, Ford Hood's military base in 2009 with 13 dead and the New York immigrants Center in 2009 with 13 dead.

The US is one of the few countries whose constitution supports the right of carrying arms. It says: “It is essential to have a regular popular force for the security of a free country, and the right of people to carry and hold arms should not be violated.”        

According to an opinion poll conducted in March and April 2017 on the issue of "the complicated American relationship with gun ", it was revealed that at least 30% of Americans have firearms.

The former US president Barack Obama, in 2016, in a speech about Sandy Hook shooting, which took place in 2012 claiming the lives of a number of students and teachers, called for stringent firearms rules. But his efforts to pass new laws on this issue did not materialize. At that time, the National Rifles Association, one of the most influential arms lobbies in the US, said: "Obama's obsession with arms control has no boundaries."

Donald Trump and the Republican Party have traditionally supported freedom of owning and bearing firearms. Trump had earlier said that his government will never seek to violate the right of carrying arms. Donald Trump, after the start of his presidency, in February, by signing an order, lifted the rules which were enacted during Obama's tenure on purchase of arms for people with mental illness.

The US president Donald Trump who has defended the weapons lobbies since his election campaigns and after his election as president, in reaction to Las Vegas shooting, expressed condolence for the victims of the incident and their families in his Twitter account. But he made no mention of arms laws in the US. His behavior provoked the criticism of many opponents of carrying arms and the US democrat congressmen. One of the critics was the former presidential rival Hillary Clinton. In her Twitter messages, while sympathizing with the survivors of victims of Las Vegas incident, she announced that all critical politicians should stand together and work together to counter the efforts of the National Rifles Association.

The United States Congress recently discussed two major laws on reducing weapons restrictions, including the law on the use of silencer in guns, as well as the right to carry weapons while traveling in the US states. It remains to be seen whether the power of the lobbyists at the congress once again speaks the final argument, or the efforts of fighters against the freedom of arms act will yield fruit.

But what matters is the disclosure of the nature of American humanitarian slogans in the world and even within the American community. The US, which has masqueraded as the defender of human rights and democracy in West Asia, suffers from mass murder within its own community. On one hand, the US launches a military expedition under the pretext of saving people's lives and, on the other hand, approves laws on freedom of carrying arms in the country and is indifferent to the killing of its citizens. Perhaps the philosophy of this behavior would make many people think what is the reason for these two opposite behaviors? Of course, the answer is related to the powerful US arms lobby.

A mafia that is linked to American political authorities and supports their trade, funnels financial assistance to the candidates of presidential and legislature campaigns. As you know, arms trade is the most profiteering trade in the world, and once weapons were sold out to fight in wars, but nowadays wars are waged to sell weapons.

But what the contemporary human is to worry about is the scary results of this dirty political game. Is this approach nothing more than the killing of the people of the world and staging of wars in different countries, and even the killing of American citizens inside the country? On one hand, there are wars and military expeditions to other countries and, on the other hand, there is freedom of bearing arms and unrest and ultimately both approaches are accompanied with the killing of innocent human beings and the violation of the most obvious human rights, including the right to life and the right to living in security, which is the first Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

FK/RM/SS