Has Development Got Anything to Do with GUN?

Many moons ago in Fall 2008, while coming back home in the evening from office I got a frantic call from my housemate and co-fellow (we were Atlas Corps Fellows then) informing me there was a shooting in our alley and the shooter was absconding with the gun. She also told me the police sealed the area therefore she couldn’t get inside the house and there were choppers making rounds. Later I got to know police personnel escorted her inside the house to declare it was a safe place and made sure the absconder wasn’t hiding there. We were new to this country of dreams and so we were new to its nightmares too! It was a moment of disbelief for us. We felt like we were watching a movie scene from some Hollywood movie just like we used to watch in the safety of our own homes back in India. That was the first time we felt we weren’t safe enough in this “developed nation”.

In the course of our yearlong fellowship program we experienced many similar situations. Thankfully we were asked to register in a particular phone number, which kept on updating us of any good or bad incidences in the vicinity and it helped us to avoid those lanes, those places. One night when another co-fellow returned home from office he said he saw a bullet hole in the window of a neighboring shop. Next day we all saw that bullet hole and kept on thinking what might have happened. We were asked not to wonder around after dark if it wasn’t very important. One peaceful movie night at home when we were ready to go back to bed we heard a sound again. It felt very near. My co-fellow looked at me and said, “They don’t use firecrackers anytime of the year like us” and we immediately knew what it was. Within minutes my bedroom on the roadside was lit up by the blue and red lights and I saw they were loading a wounded neighbor into the emergency van. I realized by the end of the year we were kind of familiar with the sound of gunshot. I wasn’t scared like the first day when we saw those choppers but I was sad this time.

We came from a developing country, India. India is also known as one of the ‘emerging economic powers’ (debatable though! Will talk about that some other time) of World. We were non-profit leaders in our countries and each one of us had fair share of experience in dealing with social, economic, political issues in some or other ways. We have many problems in our country such as poverty, child labor, injustice, malnutrition, hunger, terror attacks both by insiders and outsiders, abuse against women (Oh yes, I know you all have seen Slum Dog Millionaire and India’s Daughter) and those are very much real. No one in their sane minds, can deny any of these rather they will add more to the list. We are far farrrr away from being perfect or come to the level where developed nations stand today. But one thing I realized that day that I would again be very unfamiliar with those very familiar gunshots when I return to my country. My neighbors do not keep guns in the name of safety; Children of our families do not die of accidental gunshot injuries while playing; Thanks to the Government we have gun control laws. No, I am not saying there’s no gun violence. I am saying the news of gun violence or gun shot deaths is still rare in my country and I am thankful for that. I wish someday the citizens of the United States would also unite for their own safety and peace from the guns and not with the guns.

Photo taken from internet