I have always been a front line supporter for pro-gun activism. I believe the right to own and use a gun- under strict rules and laws, allows for lesser crimes. The premise for this argument and mine (in our Nigerian environment) is that you can defend yourself against maniacs and robbers!
However, recent events and happenings suggest the freedom gained from pro-gun activism is turning around to haunt us.
No doubt the majority of the western world is far ahead of us in Africa on this route (Pro-Gun laws), but to a large extent I believe a high degree of laxity has come out to the fore in their system and control valves.
How do we explain a household owning 18 guns! And a family in the western world's context is most often than not, very NUCLEAR. It is absurd, ridiculous and highly criminal for a Household to have 18 guns stashed somewhere...that is the equivalent of all the guns to be found in a Nigerian Police divisional office. Is the household one in the hunting business, hell NO.
Hence, for me the news in Germany of a 17 year old boy going around shooting down people with a Baretta pistol stolen from the parents' stash of 18 guns, is not only worrying but also smirks of the high degree of negligence and criminality- both on the part of the parents and the system that is suppose to control access to these firearms.
The spate of such killings by teenagers have brought to the fore serious arguments on the need for tighter gun controls. Yet, I do not believe that this is the way forward. However, I think stricter controls should be placed on the number of guns owned by an individual. Also, I believe the parents/guardians of a perpetrator of these kind of crimes should be made to face criminal charges, if it is established they have been negligent or overly criminal in their acquisition firearms- as in the German case.
Let us look at the scenario where one of the assailant's victims have had a gun of his or her own...would he have succeeded in killing 15 people before shooting himself DEAD?!
