The recent Boston Marathon bombs that killed three
and injured 175 were shocking. In the past decade, bombings have
been rare, though gun violence causing mass killings and public panic in
the US has increased in the past year.
“Any time bombs are used to target
innocent civilians, it is an act of terror. What we don’t yet know,
however, is who carried out this attack and why, whether it was planned
and executed by a terrorist organization — foreign or domestic — or was
the act of a malevolent individual,” said US President Barack Obama
on Tuesday.
At the time of writing this article, the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) had not made an official statement on suspects or
motives behind the attack. Law enforcement officials and politicians are
being careful not to create unnecessary confusion by keeping things low
key until evidence has been gathered and a suspect has been officially
identified.
This is a tragedy, but what could this attack symbolize?
The attack occurred on Patriots’ Day, a US holiday, in the historical
city of Boston, at a sporting event. It killed innocent people, including
at least one child, through two explosions in close proximity with
homemade bombs. That there were two-explosions, and that there was
possibly a pressure cooker used in one or both of the bombs, could be
signatures of certain entities.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the US has been relatively
spared from bombings. The only bombing that occurred post-9/11 was in
2004 by Dennis Mahon, a white supremacist. Mahon used a homemade bomb to
attack Don Logan, an African-American city diversity director of
Scottsdale, Arizona. There have also been several bomb scares.
Pre-9/11, the US saw numerous bombings: the 1993 truck bomb at the World
Trade Center; the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by right-wing extremist Timothy
McVeigh and the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta by anti-abortion
extremist Eric Rudolph. Considering these incidents, its too early to say
whether Islamic terrorists are behind the Boston Marathon bombing.
The US itself has been experiencing an upsurge in gun violence in the
past year. Whether that is now morphing into bombings remains unclear,
but we cannot afford to experience more mass killings of innocent people
in a nation where about 40 percent of US households own guns.
The FBI’s definition of mass murder is “a murder that kills four or more
people”. According to the database of the news organization Mother Jones,
mass killings occurred throughout the US, semi-automatic guns were used
in 75 percent of incidents, assault weapons were used in 40 percent of
incidents, 79 percent of guns were obtained legally and no armed civilian
fought back, with 2012 being the worst year for
“mass killings”.
Seven mass shootings in the US occurred in 2012. In February, Jeong Soon
Paek shot two of his sisters and their husbands in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeong then killed himself. In April, One L. Goh opened fire in a nursing
classroom, and killing seven in Oakland, California.
In May, Ian Stawicki shot four café customers, injured one and then
killed himself in Seattle, Washington. In July, James Holmes killed 12
people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. In August, a US Army
veteran Wade Michael Page opened fire at a Sikh temple before shooting
himself, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page killed six.
In September in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Andre Engeldinger shot a business
owner, three employees and a UPS driver after being fired. He then also
killed himself. In December in Newton, Connecticut, Adam Lanza shot his
own mother at home and killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook
Elementary School, before turning the gun on himself.
Stephen King, the best-selling author, wrote in the ebook Guns that he
supports gun control. As an author of numerous books on death and
violence, he felt he had a moral obligation to remove one of his books —
titled Rage — from bookstores because it had inspired some individuals
with mental issues to hurt others.
Aggressive gun control must be imposed immediately and deterrents must
established to reduce gun and bomb violence. Despite US nationwide
criminal databases, stricter rules on who can purchase guns and how can
be licensed for gun ownership must be updated.
More than four decades ago, in 1972, the US Surgeon General issued a
warning on the strong causal relationship between televised violence and
antisocial behavior, which included violence. Recent violence-laden video
games even “train” players to kill in a virtual reality.
King writes: “About 80 people die
of gunshot wounds in the US every day.” This is a lesson for all of
mankind. Tragedies like these must be stopped. ●
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