There must be something wrong when a much touted right keeps putting guns in the hands of crazies with murderous intentions.

THERE are just 12 days left of 2012. And since this is my last column for the year, I wanted it to be bright and cheerful. Alas, I cannot find in my heart to write as such.

Foremost in my mind is yet another shooting massacre in America.

This time, 20 children – aged six and seven – and six adults were shot in an elementary school in Connecticut by a lone gunman.

Their killer, Adam Lanza, was a mentally unstable 20-year-old man whose mother had taught him to shoot and unwittingly supplied him with the weapons for his deadly rampage. She was also his first victim.

While we in peaceful Malaysia can commiserate and sympathise with the grieving families, others in war-torn or disaster-struck nations are probably too consumed by their sorrow over the death of their own innocents to care about a tragedy that seemed self-inflicted by a rich and powerful country.

If that sounds harsh, it’s unfortunately so and I make no apologies for it.

For the record, I love and admire America for many things: for its can-do spirit, its popular culture and its ability to inspire.

Yet, it’s mind-boggling why it seems hell-bent on inflicting gunshot wounds on itself time and time again with its obsession with the “right” to bear arms.

This year alone, there were 12 other shootings all over the country, in places like a spa, coffeeshop, university, Sikh temple, cinema and mall.

Which means innocent people can get killed by mad and angry people with a gun just about anywhere.

Other countries tightened gun ownership laws after experiencing shooting massacres.

In England, it was the Hungerford incident in 1987 which led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, banning the ownership of semi-automatic rifles and restricting the use of shotguns.

In Australia, the Port Arthur massacre of 1996 in which 35 people were killed, including two Malaysians, resulted in the country’s relatively lenient gun control laws being considerably tightened.

Will President Barack Obama finally go beyond mere words and tears?

“We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end and to end them we must change,” he said on Sunday.

It is horrors like this that make me glad of our very strict gun laws. It’s extremely hard to get a licence for even one pistol and it has to be renewed annually.

Lanza’s mother, however, legally owned “two powerful handguns, two traditional hunting rifles and a semi-automatic rifle that is similar to weapons used by troops in Afghanistan”, according to the New York Times.

Her son used the two handguns and the semi-automatic rifle in his killing spree on Friday. On the same day, police in Indiana arrested a man who owned 47 guns after he threatened to copycat Lanza and shoot people at his local elementary school.

It’s unbelievable that people can own so many deadly weapons in their home especially in a society that does not actively inculcate responsible gun ownership.

My siblings and I grew up with a gun in the house. It belonged to my dad who was a police officer.

Yet, none of us ever tried to play with it.

It was something Dad drilled in us: A gun is not a toy and we kept a healthy respect for it.

I don’t recall any incident whereby children of policemen or legal gun owners took their parents’ guns and went on a shooting spree in Malaysia.

This, I would say, is truly not in our “culture”.

Over the years, it has been drummed into us citizens that guns aren’t roses and there are harsh penalties for their illegal possession.

Under the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971, just being in unlawful possession of a firearm can put you in jail for up to 14 years and at least six strokes of the rotan.

Discharging a firearm in the course of committing a crime like robbery or kidnapping can get you the death sentence.

Even just “exhibiting” a firearm that can induce fear of death in others is punishable with life imprisonment and six strokes of the rotan.

Keeping the number of privately-owned guns tightly controlled makes sense because in the wrong hands – especially those attached to unsound minds – they become weapons of mass murder.

If ordinary citizens feel safe, secure and protected, there is no need for them to keep and bear arms. And that’s how it has been for us – so buying a gun never figured on anyone’s shopping list, unless you’re rich and a potential kidnap victim.

Unfortunately, public perception of safety has changed; that crime is on the rise and criminals are getting more violent.

Adding to the fear is the growing number of armed robberies and shooting murders.

The perpetrators are believed to be using guns smuggled in from conflict areas in neighbouring countries.

No wonder then, some people are thinking it’s not a bad idea to have a gun ready on the basis that it’s your right to be able to defend yourself and your home, which is the mantra of gun-loving Americans.

We can only hope the authorities are doing all they can to ensure the situation doesn’t get out of hand.

It will be a tragedy of our making if we become a nation of illegal gun-toting citizens in the name of protecting ourselves.

Then we will be no better, if not worse, than the Americans.

> If the world doesn’t end in three days, the writer will try to be in better spirits in her next column next year. Till then, peace be upon all of us and a hopeful new year.

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