Darkness at noon

Sir — The carnage at Virginia Tech in the United States of America draws attention, yet again, to the gun culture prevalent in American society (“Question mark kid”, April 18). According to a survey, over 40 per cent of American households own guns and thousands die of gun wounds every year. Strict laws must be framed so that guns are not made freely available. Unfortunately, politicians in the US have not reacted positively to the controlled sale of guns. With drug abuse on the rise, the number of gun-shot deaths is bound to increase. Hopefully, the Bush administration will at least ensure that all teaching institutions are declared “gun-free zones” and upgrade the security system in the campuses, especially when over 80,000 students are inducted in various educational institutions annually from India and other Asian countries.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — The Virginia Tech tragedy should serve as a warning for all school and college campuses across the world. If it can happen in the US, it can happen anywhere. In fact, we must learn from this incident and train the concerned authorities and students to handle such situations. Moreover, students like Seung-Hui Cho should be given special attention and care.

Yours faithfully,
Lubna Salim, Calcutta

Sir — The shootings in Virginia reminded me of a quote attributed to Damon Runyon, the American writer: “God made some people strong and some people weak. It took Colonel Colt to invent the ‘equaliser’.” In the hands of Seung-Hui Cho, the gun proved more than an equaliser, it enabled one man to kill 32 men and women.

Yours faithfully,
C.V.K. Moorthy, Bangalore

Sir — The way a blood-thirsty young man could gun down so many students and teachers at a reputed university in the US, shows that the institution, with a student population of over 28,000, had no proper security arrangement. It is difficult to believe that the massacre is the handiwork of a jilted lover, as some reports suggest. The truth, it seems, lies somewhere else, perhaps in a bigger conspiracy to create scare within the US campuses.

Yours faithfully,
Megha A, Hyderabad

Sir — The tragedy at the university in Virginia may look abnormal and shocking at the first glance. But on closer examination, the incident emerges as a consequence of the US administration’s pursuit of consumerist and materialist ideals, losing sight of the resultant erosion of values and morals.

Yours faithfully,
Salil Gewali, Shillong

Sir — Seung-Hui Cho’s mad act, which claimed 32 lives, including those of two professors, gives rise to many unanswered questions. Had the police been alerted by the college authorities soon enough? Were the university authorities aware of the need for regular counselling for students like Cho, who seemed to suffer from chronic depression. Let this incident be a warning to the leading educational institutions in India like the IIMs and the IITs.

Yours faithfully,
R. Sekar, Nalco Nagar, Orissa

Sir — Shootings in schools and colleges are becoming increasingly frequent in the US. It was only a couple of weeks back that two high school students were injured when a gun brought to school by one of them went off accidentally. The Columbine school tragedy, of course, stands out as an example of misguided students using firearms to horrific effect. The incident at Virginia Tech should get the US to strengthen its gun control laws. The sales of firearms should be regulated in a way that only those weapons related to personal safety and hunting purposes are made available to licence-holders. In the absence of a strong legislation, such incidents will be repeated in American campuses.

Yours faithfully,
S. Kamat, Alto Betim, Goa

Sir — Why drag the Iraq war into the discussion on the Virginia campus killings (“It’s so easy”, April 20)? What happened in Virginia Tech is an isolated case involving a deranged person. If we are talking about a culture of violence, then such a culture is more predominant in India than in the US. Americans do not beat up doctors and ransack hospitals alleging negligence, as Indians do. Americans do not assault station masters for late running of suburban trains, as Indians do. American elections do not witness a fraction of deaths that Indian polls do. Before attributing the Virginia incident to the American culture of violence, Indians should take a look at themselves.

Yours faithfully,
Asoke C. Banerjee, Calcutta

Sir — The information about the nationality of the killer in Virginia Tech is ultimately useless because the knowledge offers little relief to the families of the dead and the injured. More important, incidents of this nature have little to do with race or nationality. They are the result of an individual’s mental instability. From what has been learnt about Seung-Hui Cho, the perpetrator of the ghastly crime, he was a 23-year-old South Korean, introvert by nature with a pattern of behaviour not exactly expected in a young man of his age. He had problems adjusting with his peers, was often erratic, unpredictable and at times violent. All these should have alerted the university authorities some time ago, but they were probably not sensitive enough.

The tragedy could also have been avoided, had the US administration been stricter with its arms laws. The easy availability of arms, which was once considered necessary because of threats posed by American Indians, is now a dangerous legacy of the past. As Cho’s act has shown, citizens have to be made aware that weapons are meant to be acquired and used only in self-defence.

Yours faithfully,
P.K. Bhattacharjee, Calcutta