Armed America

US President Barack Obama has said that “The United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun-safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings.” It is clear guns occupy a deep and generally accepted role in the US social fabric. According to Face the Facts USA, there are 310 million guns in a country of 307 million people. That’s more than one gun per person. The 2nd Amendment in the US constitution authorises US nationals to keep weapons.

In the aftermath of the Orlando attack, hate-mongers and Muslim-baiters, including Donald Trump, have reacted very dangerously. They have equated the Muslim community with and resorted to scapegoating, racial profiling etc. These counterproductive policies alienate the very constituencies that are needed to prevail against terrorist plots and could likely escalate into riots and racially-motivated violence. The US administration must devise well-thought-out policies and strategies in a bid to curb further weaponisation of American society. Hate-mongers like Trump should refrain from unwarranted statements for furthering their political, parochial and corporate interests at the cost of the American society. And the Muslim community must counterbalance such eventualities intellectually and academically and prove their political and sociological credentials holistically.

Saeed Ullah Khan Wazir

Islamabad