Have Gun Will Travel?

Dead for a Dollar (2022)
Director: Walter Hill

These days, one of the things that parents fear when they drop their kids at school is not that they fall or get hurt but that a mad kid might go on a shooting spree with a semiautomatic gun. 

The debate on gun control will appear occasionally after every massive shooting, which is quite often; it dies as quickly as it escalates. Arguments like 'guns don't kill people, people do!' are not unheard of. Using archaic laws at a time when white men tamed the lawless Wild West, they justified their fights to bear arms for defence. Of course, it was for offence when the leaders of the initial thirteen states decided to expand their hegemony westwards. 

The Second Amendment of the Constitution support gun possession for defence but not with assault rifles and M16s. Repeated studies worldwide, including experiences in the UK and Australia, have unequivocally shown tight gun laws and stringent control reduce gun violence. In the USA, these results are not reproducible as different states advocate different levels of control. A flea market selling guns, rifles and assault weapons in a supermarket is accepted as the norm in some states. Going to a gun fair is more like a social event. Free movement between states makes any legislation laughable. The latest figure for gun ownership in the UK is 5.03 guns per 100 people compared to 120 guns for 100 Americans! 

The political will is, of course, wanting. When gun lobbyists are on the payrolls of most Presidential candidates, who wants to eat the hands that feed them?

Now, another idea has been put forward on why everyone, including the bench, is dragging their feet in putting a full stop to this tragedy. After growing up, generations after generations, with a staple diet of a good Western as a wholesome evening entertainment, Americans have been hardwired to perceive gun possession as a birthright. The fastest draw has no reason to face the law as the showdown (as in OK Corral) was fair and square, facing man to man. 

Imagine constantly being fed with the potpourri of strong, tall White men enforcing the realm of the white men's law in the land they infiltrated and justifying it with gunpowder. 'Gunsmoke', 'High Chapparal', 'The Virginian', 'Rawhide' and 'The Rifle Man' all went on for umpteenth seasons and are still viewed on dedicated Western channels and YouTube. The premise of most stories is that white men march west for a better life for their families. Their noble intention is marred with vicious savages who are hell-bent on causing misery. It does not matter that the natives were merely defending their abodes and way of life. The barrel of the gun is a justified manner to mete out justice. There is no moral ambiguity. Balance is preserved when the Cowboys get their way. 

Over the years, perhaps after watching the devastations that came with the Vietnam War, moviemakers started making fewer Western movies. 

This movie is different. A Western, no doubt, but trying to be as politically correct as possible. To counter the throb often associated with Westerns, the idea of machoism, white supremacy and male toxicity, the story has a strong female character; often, ladies are mere eye candy in this genre. Two African-American actors play essential roles. Cowboys are shown to have moral judgment, after all.

An 'honest' bounty hunter, Max Borlund, is hired by a wealthy businessman to apprehend his wife, who had allegedly eloped with an African-American army deserter. Riding with a black soldier, Max finally catches up with the pair in Mexico but deals with Mexican bandits. Meanwhile, one of Max's foes has a score to settle. It's a straightforward movie with a predictable storyline. 2.75/5.

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For how long?

Eva Mireles (victim)
4th-grade teacher

We all know the drill. Regular broadcasting will be rudely interrupted with news flashes of yet another senseless killing in public. All cable news network cameramen will run to the site hoping to catch a glimpse of yet another gore porn over prime time. They will appear empathetic, trying to blank out the faces of victims and underaged but secretly wish they could exhibit violence in its full glory.

Then for the next few hours will be reels over reels of footage of witnesses and victims relating their dastardly experiences. The police chief will come forward with a press release that they have identified the perpetrator. The chief will be flabbergasted how the aggressor managed to possess his firepower. A revealing loophole in the system would manifest - he is underaged, that he purchased his assault weapon at a mall, that he has mental issues, that he bought it in another state, yadda yadda. Then his social media would expose his screwed up ideology and true intentions that went below the radar, whilst others get barred by FB or Youtube for politically incorrect phrases!

Experts will be whisked in to opine their two cents worth - that the USA has got to get its act together. Politicians will cry for the victims and plead, "for how long do we have to endure this?" The gun lobbyist will saunter in to proclaim that 'guns do not kill people, people do!'; without a gun, an angry or deranged would have to run all the way to his intended target and lay a punch or beat the pulp out of his victim. And the damage is far less brutal.

Over the following days, the incident site would be revisited to show wreaths and cute figurines left by mourners. The frequency of the mention of the incident would dwindle. Pretty soon, another national crisis would loom. The shooting incident would be forgotten until another shooting in another vicinity. It is then another state or county's headache to sort out.

Anyone with half a brain will know that gun kills, and it does that much more at ease with the least effort. Experiences in countries that outlawed gun usage have drastically reduced gun-related crimes. One does not need guns to live in modern times. Easy access to guns just makes it necessary to possess bigger and more powerful firearms, even overpowering what the law enforcement officers have at their disposal.

It made sense to make it a person's right to own firearms to guard his land during the Wild West when the white men were snatching lands from the retaliating Native Americans. In the 21st century, when policing and protecting the citizens is outsourced to the State, can the Second Amendment still be relevant?

The country that considers itself the policeman of the world is impotent when it comes to protecting its own people. The nation that is telling the world how economies should be managed is finding itself dealing with homelessness and decimated family units. Still, people call going to America and living the American way an American dream!

Some victims of the recent Texas shooting. Too young to die.

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People kill people, not guns?

If anything happens I love you! (2020)
Animated Short Film

This 11-minutes short film won itself an Academy Award in the Best Short Animated film category. In a concise graphic representation, the storytellers managed to capture the essence of emotions surrounding the loss of a young child. This emotional turmoil can make or break a family unit. The gamut of blaming, what-ifs, guilt and fault finding missions would eventually lead to a brick wall among the living but definitely not bring back the dead.

The death of a member of a family who has not lived his full potential, however, may invoke a myriad of responses. They say an addition to the family, especially the first-born, unites families. The sight of a newborn will make everyone all jello but strong enough to cement whatever minor frictions that may have been present in day-to-day dealings. It may make or break the bonds between the close relatives, especially parents, in the case of a young child.

This short film with no dialogue but a single song, 1950 by King Princess, tells the pain that a couple of parents endure when their pre-teen is killed in a random school shooting. The couple gradually grows apart with overpowering grief. All the while, their genuine emotions, feeling for each other and worries about each other are depicted by their shadows. When the door of their daughter's room, which they refuse to open all this while, suddenly opens, both parents enter the room to the sound of their daughter's favourite song. They reminisce about all the joyful times that they had together through a series of flashbacks. Finally, they shed their tears and reached a resolution.

The film highlights the problem of random shootings in the American public space, especially schools. Over the years, the interval between these types of shooting is getting shorter, and the types of weapons used are getting complex. It is no more pistols or hunting rifles. Instead, we are talking about assault rifles and semi-automatics. Pretty soon, the general public may be walking around with bazookas as it is their right to bear arms to protect themselves as permitted by the second amendment of the American Constitution. 

So many Presidents have come and gone promising to put a stop to all this gun violence. Even though many countries, the UK and Australia included, are testimony that this is indeed possible with very tight regulation of weapons ownership, such a situation will never happen in the US. The gun lobbying groups hold the purse string to the political parties. Being the central capital of weapon provider for the whole world to fight each other to maintain American interest and sustain despotic regimes worldwide, it will bad for business to put an all right ban on guns. 

Anti guns will continue doing their thing.  Aggrieved parties will pour their heartfelt disappointments, and the world will light an occasional candle at shooting sights, but the stock owners of Smith & Wesson and Colt's Defence will continue run laughing all the way to the bank. And they justify their rights by saying, "People kill people, not guns!" But, what they do not understand is that people just get a bruised face, dented ego or at most a broken rib with physical might. A gun has only one mission, to cause severe damage to the victim with minimal effort of its user.

All the loving feelings wither over the years. A child may make or break, not only by what turns out of them but in wanting to give the best for them. Differing parenting approaches and domineering-type of parenting accentuates drift. You ask yourself, "Is this the same woman that I married? "You coax yourself telling, "No, these are just battle wounds traversing the journey of life!"

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.