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Lessons from Louisiana
and Gurgaon for Punjab
WSN Bureau
 The
murder of Chandrasekhar Reddy and Kiran Kumar, the two Indian
Louisiana State University students near Governor Bobby Jindal's
city Baton Rouge has left both Americans and Indians shocked. The
FBI has joined the investigation, but there is no indication yet
regarding the motive for the murders. This gory incident may well
rattle all those in India who have children in American campuses as
also the Diaspora. After Virginia Tech shootings, apprehensions
about security arrangements in and around US
universities are legitimate.
One
must take reasonable precautions that a prudent person would
observe, especially in a country where you must presume that
everyone whom you confront on the street is armed.
Campus police in the US are reasonably well-organised, and
university authorities are generally willing to go an extra length
to protect students and faculty members. Unlike in India,
transparency in reporting incidents to students is highly respected.
Any willful suppression of news could be extremely damaging to a
university administration.
But
it will also be prudent to note that there have been certain
disturbing trends in the US that cannot be ignored. After a few
years of a perceptible drop in violent crime, the graph is now
rising. Of course New York City and Los Angeles are exceptions,
perhaps due to initiatives of two dynamic Police Commissioners, Ray
Kelly and Bill Bratton, homicides and other forms of violence are
definitely going up elsewhere.
Philadelphia has a grave situation. Washington DC has registered
more than 170 homicides this year alone, of which 77 per cent have
been from the use of guns. It is not for nothing that the DC area is
often referred to as the ‘murder capital' of the US.
The
Punjabi Diaspora must have a lot of lessons to write home about the
fact that the spurt in crime in many parts of America is widely
attributed to the nexus between drugs and guns.
The
dilemma with regard to enforcement of the drug law notwithstanding,
there is a well-known laxity in a majority of US states that do not
favour excessive restriction on guns. This is evident in the might
of the gun lobby represented by the National Rifle Association
(NRA), which has strong Republican connections. Former New York
Mayor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate nominee Rudi
Giuliani was a well-known votary of gun restrictions while he held
office. Now, he isn't that warm to gun control, for the fear of
alienating a sizeable chunk of the party's leadership devoted to a
liberal gun policy .
But
the fact remains that the infusion of politics into gun licensing
and ownership leads to a worsening crime scene. The crime scene in
the US will continue to worry the Punjabi Diaspora since their own
kids and many of those of their relatives in Punjab come to US for
studies.
Besides, the Punjabi Diaspora must make an effort to convince
authorities back homw in Punjab to take the issue of arms control
seriously. Gun licensing in India is strict, but of late there has
been a laxity, and we don't even have to utter the word "Jessica Lal"
to convince you. The rich and famous can easily acquire guns at
will. Recently, the WSN had published a story about how prohibited
guns seized from unlawful elements were auctioned to many
politicians and their kin in Punjab. After the Gurgaon school
shootings, there is every case for tighter control over the
process.
26 December, 2007
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