بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas, US
A Broken System from its Constitution
News:
The Shooting at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas, US
A massacre at a Texas primary school has again drawn attention to the powerful gun lobby in the United States, with Democratic officials blaming Republican legislators for remaining beholden to influential pro-gun interests that advocates say have stalled national gun reforms. President Joe Biden, speaking hours after an 18-year-old gunman stormed the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, fatally shooting 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday, asked: “When, in God’s name, are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?”. (Aljazeera 25 May 2022)
Comment:
Biden blames the gun lobby for the shooting of the innocents despite being Obama’s vice president as mass shootings also occurred during his terms. It is a perpetual cycle with the same anticipated results. “It was the 27th time this year that a shooter armed with a gun had injured or killed people at a school, according to a tally kept by EducationWeek. Just 10 days before the killings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a white supremacist shooter in Buffalo, N.Y., targeted Black people, killing 10 inside a supermarket with an AR-15 rifle equipped with high-capacity ammunition clips in a rampage he planned to livestream online.” (Time)
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is now among the most powerful special interest lobby groups in the US, with a substantial budget to influence members of Congress on gun policy. (BBC) The NRA spent $1.6 million during the first half of 2019 lobbying Congress against laws that would enact stricter background checks for people looking to buy guns, according to disclosure reports. “Lobbying reports do not disclose with whom the NRA lobbyists met with in Congress. The organization’s political contribution record, however, demonstrates which politicians the NRA prefers to see in power.” (cnbc)
This is how fundamental capitalists operate without accountability because they are the actual influencers on legislation using known politicians to secure their interests in a legal manner. Indifferent to the slaughter of the innocents.
In sum to change the gun laws in favor of civilians especially children, the US constitution amendments need to be changed, for this to happen the NRA would need to soften their stance or loosen their grip of authority and kickbacks (heavy handed sponsorships… this would considerably decrease their profits). The cycle is perpetual reaping bloodshed, millions of dollars in profits to the arms dealers all in a legal manner (as gun dealers are not held liable for their guns and ammunition).
US presidents whether democrats or republicans are not able to change this unless the Supreme Court Justices amend their manmade constitutions, the subject of limited capitalistic self-serving interest at the mercy of the capitalists especially the right wing who push for limited government control in affairs.
The types of excuses shooters claim have no bearing whatsoever as people around the world have circumstances much worse from famine to war to genocide to corruption, yet it is almost unheard of to have mass school shootings with military like weapons used by ordinary people. It is an insult to the parents who are left with bleeding hearts who can and will be another parent’s worst nightmare because legislative committees refuse to amend laws driven by money machines.
The issue is larger than changing gun policy in the US, the alteration needs to involve a deeply rooted change that brings about a radical change so all affairs that stem from the system can offer tangible secured human rights for all. This will never be found in the Capitalistic ideology. Experts and specialists in various fields confirm this due to the open suffering of the majority living in the US and those who are brutally affected by the foreign policies abroad.
Emotional speeches by various Congress members and the presidents will not bring any relief for grieving families. Changes to gun laws (highly unlikely) if ever made will bring only short respite nothing more. The common people are not the ones who make the laws that serve to their safety or wellbeing even though the system prides itself on being a democracy for the people by the people, it is simply a flimsy slogan, but the wealthy elite capitalists whose main aim is to multiply profits for themselves are the real lawmakers in the US.
There is an alternative that would guarantee human dignity and security because that it is engrained in the system and in the laws, that system is Islam and its laws are from the Creator for His creations. Islam is not only for the worships nor is it as portrayed by the slanderous Western regimes and its soft powers. Islam came with a clear framework for all of life’s affairs for all its citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim, without discrimination hereby guaranteeing human rights in true form and not in theory. It is upon those who seek relief to search out the systems of Islam and what they stand for to see how Islam values human life above all.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Manal Bader