Gun control is an actual problem and Pakistan, you need to talk about it. While incidents like the recent Orlando Attacks in the United States have generated a large-scale debate about Gun Violence and controlling who gets access to guns in the US, there is hardly ever any debate in Pakistan with regards to initiating policy changes to avoid incidents like the horrible Peshawar Massacre of December 2014 at the Army Public School in the city.
Indeed, there is a need to control terrorist ideology, but at the same time the mass prevalence of guns and a lack of checks on the black market of guns in Pakistan allows virtually anyone to obtain these weapons.
According to the Small Arms Survey, Pakistan has the 6th most number of privately owned guns among 178 countries in the world.
There are more than 11 guns for every 100 people in the country and this includes both, legally and illegally, obtained firearms in Pakistan by private citizens.
On June 22, 2015 a young boy who was displaying toy guns was shot and killed by a policeman in Faisalabad
Following that incident, Multan district banned the sale of toy guns at children’s toy shops. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that not much changed in the aftermath of that ban.
This recent incident in Peshawar will give any sane Pakistani chills
This young man waved an M16 rifle in the face of another person, threatening to shoot. Aerial firing was also heard in the vicinity.
And the sad part is, this kind of incidents are not occasional, or one of. Particularly in Karachi, there are viral stories floating around social media about shootings based on personal whims and/or being offended by the most minuscule of things.
While freedom to buy guns in order to protect oneself from terrorist and the “bad guys” seems like a good idea, is it more important than risking your own, and everyone else around you’s, life?
