Killed by politics

Last week, the world was shocked to hear about the shooting at an elementary school at Uvalde. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed when a shooter locked himself up in a 4th-grade classroom and fired an automatic weapon at the helpless children and teacher. Sadness, shock, anxiety, and anger were the common emotions felt by most people who have school-aged children. Not surprisingly, I felt all these emotions because my child also goes to a school in this country. I can only imagine the grief and agony of all those parents and siblings of those diseased.

Why do such instances happen repeatedly? Why does it happen

School shooting deaths (2022): US vs. rest of the world

only in the USA? Americans express disbelief and shock at the news of atrocities in Afghanistan and other third-world countries. We ban financial aid to those countries. Cut diplomatic ties and do everything needed to block the supply of weapons to these places. Why doesn't killing 19 innocent children in a locked-up classroom elicit the same emotions and political action? This is a question we need to ask as a society to politicians vehemently defending the right of people to own  massive killer machines with nominal background checks.

Who is to blame for such tragedies? The shooters, many of whom have serious mental health problems, depression, anxiety, and dysfunctional families. Many of these people are victims of child abuse. Many of them are manically depressed and want someone to kill them. Many of whom had unpleasant relationships with the school system. Most of these people were suffering from pain and whose cries were never heard. Or should we blame a sociopolitical system that is unwilling to take any steps to prevent the access of automatic weapons in the hands of these mentally ill people? I hope anyone with commonsense would agree that it is the latter to be blamed here—those in power supported by a strong gun lobby, whose only motivation is money. We cannot only blame the perpetrators for these atrocities. The main culprits are those who equip them with weapons. All the parents in this country have to voice their opinions in unison to change this system fundamentally. Minimally, we should convince our representatives to take action to ban automatic weapons from civilians. Why do we need such weapons at home:  To fight invading army from hostile neighboring countries, or to kill innocent children?