Can guns really protect us?

BM Editorial:
Thousands of years ago when nature was in its infant stage of human development, the ultimate supreme of this earth would have never thought that that one day its most intelligent species, mankind, will make this heaven a hell to dwell upon. Fortunately, not everything is lost.

Since ages we have heard of wars taking place between countries, dynasties on basis of land expansions or other such unconvincing reasons to establish their own supremacy. The two world wars were thus the inevitable outcomes. Today post cold war, even though countries are not fighting for land, there is another bigger threat that has been thrown on them due to opposing ideologies. Some religious, some extremist and some anti human antagonism has resulted in another inevitable. Terrorism.

Worldover, it exists in different forms. Apart from the recent Terror attacks on mumbai, other popular attacks have been the US 9/11, London, Glasgow 7/11, Serial blasts and the list goes on. Whats more disheartening is that these are on a rise and the question is how can we citizens be protected from such incidents?

Ofcourse, military support using arms and ammunitions is very essential for self defence. But this will be nothing more than a cosmetic effort to cover up the losses, rather than preventing them. We need a solution to cut the roots of these problems which can only be solved by taking concrete steps. First, the citizens have to be vigil and keep an eye on things around for any suspicious elements. Then, the government has to initiate some strong anti terror mechanismswhich can ensure safety.

But another question that arises is how can guns protect us from our own social evils like poverty, illiteracy, discriminations on caste, creed or color, dowry systems. To address these issues we need more stringent measures.

We need another Gandhi. India needs a new modern age Gandhi for its revival. Education to all, with special emphasis to women education is a must. Also, the youth of the nation has to stage a non violent uprising to eliminate these problems completely by being socially active, participating in the political process and taking initiatives.

We need much more than weapons to protect ourselves and secure and create a better future for our children and the next generation.

(Read the comments section on www.mehtabhavin.blogspot.com. Had written it while practising for XAT)