Pointless

patrickadegbamigbe.blogspot.com

Pointless.

There is no worse evil that can befall a parent than the loss of a child, especially if the loss is due to an avoidable circumstance. So, this piece is dedicated to anyone who is in this unfortunate position. The recent mass shooting in Florida where 17 students died and many others wounded, and the mass kidnapping of 100 or 110 or 117 students in Northern Nigerian school is another clarion call that the effort to keep our future(children) safe is the immediate duty of all decent and responsible adults, not just parents. The question however is how decent and responsible are our adults?

Since the news broke some weeks ago, there has been one frenzy activity after the other. America appears to have a more organized way of processing tragedies like these, purely because of experience. The Florida shooting is the 6th school shooting resulting in carnages this year. There have been 17 incidences of gunfire in schools this year, according to gun control group Everytown USA. It is also the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults.

After the shooting, the boy-shooter went to a Walmart, bought a drink in a Subway, left and then went to a McDonald’s. After walking out of the McDonald’s he was taken into police custody without incident. Are you serious? In a country with military presences in almost half of the world, a 17 year old bought AR rifle and ammunition, when he could not even buy a bottle of beer until he is eighteen! And Americans are acting enraged and surprised.

The problem is simple. There are over 310 million guns in America and because it is easier to buy a gun than an antibiotic, Americans are naturally taken to self help. Take away the guns or at least make them harder to get and you'll not instantly have a heaven like environment but a sane and safe place to live. The National Rifle Association(NRA) with it's insane funds however stood in the way of sensible resolution of the conflict. As politicians kowtow to the NRA’s incredulous second amendment- the right to bear arms. Trump felt the teachers in school should also carry concealed weapons to deter would be shooters. More guns, less control.

In Nigeria, we have less guns and more control as our few guns are equitably shared among deserving people. For example,you cannot bear arms if you are not a political thug, member of militia,Muslim extremists or a career thief. The rest of the citizens are considered too unstable to be charged with the upkeep of a gun. The police bear arms of course, even though, they have killed more innocent people from accidental discharge than criminals. You can't arrive late to a crime scene and still expect to meet anyone anyway.

Four year ago,more than 270 girls were kidnapped in Chibok about 170 miles away from where the present over 100 girls were kidnapped on Monday in Dapchi. The world is once again getting denials and misinformation from the authorities and disbelief and anger from the parents. President Buhari says troops and reconnaissance aircraft would be used and no stone left unturned in the hunt for the girls, yet they are refusing to give any further details of the search, because they don't have any. No names, no pictures and no idea who they are looking for.

Meanwhile, here in U.S., the dead kids have been buried, the injured receiving treatment,the survivors organizing rallies, putting pressure on lawmakers to ban automatic rifles and all stakeholders having town hall meetings on how best to prevent reoccurence.

Contrarily, our post mortem is predictable; the government will set up a probe committee headed by a general to look into it, series of religious leaders and G.Os will organize prayers and fasting, some fading human rights activists will use this to resuscitate their doomed careers,the parents and guardians will wail until they are exhausted and the general public will criticise government at the safety of their rooms as we all wait for Buhari to fix the economy, that he was so close to starting...until this kidnapping distracted him. Am kidding.