Guns in wrong hand

Recent news on the results of inadequate gun control laws in the United States of America reminds us Lankans in this so-called Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, of the gun control here we have known in the past and what applies at present. Older readers would remember the redoubtable C. Sutheralingam who sailed into the then coveted Ceylon Civil Service and then resigned saying he was “tired of signing gun licences and dog licences” in various kachcheris. A mathematical genius, he reverted to academia as Professor of Mathematics in the University College and later served as a Minister of the first D.S. Senanayake government of then Independent Ceylon.

From the British colonial era, Ceylonese as we were then, were not permitted to own firearms without a licence. These were issued by the government at various kachcheris after a careful evaluation of whether the permit holder was a fit and proper person to hold a firearm. In the early days gun licences were not easy to obtain but not as difficult as later; for example during the JVP’s first and second insurrections and during the civil war. Those of us who are old enough remember that the JVP commandeered a large number of shotguns issued to permit holders mainly for crop protection. Guns then had to be surrendered to police stations so that they were safe from marauding insurgents. Ironically many police stations were overrun and their own armouries as well as firearms surrendered for safe custody were taken away. This is history.

In the past few weeks we have seen a series of brazen daylight murders by gunmen on motorbikes blazing away at their victims in offences most likely connected to the narcotics trade that is rampant in the country. Automatic weapons have been used in several of these killings. Obviously the weapons used are not licenced. One little remembered aspects of our long drawn civil war was that there was leakage of military hardware imported into the country to fight the northern insurgency. The military trained a large number of youth, many from rural areas, in the use of firearms. There has been no proper accounting of firearms lost from military armouries during the war years and thereafter. Deserters often took away arms that were never recovered. There are also firearms the JVP robbed during its two adventures that remain unaccounted. Then there are the guns issued to politicians for self-defence at a time there was a very real threat to their lives. Many of these were not returned by those to whom they were issued.

We believe that even today politicians, or at least their personal security officers, are issued firearms. The recent killing of an MP and mob attacks on, homes of politicians and their property is evidence enough of their need to be armed. However that be, it is obvious that a great number of ‘leaked’ firearms are possessed by the not inconsiderable underworld operating with near impunity in this country. Such arms are frequently used in acts of crime and seldom recovered. It is necessary for the concerned authorities to take cognizance of this reality. Many of us, rightly we believe, are convinced that this bankrupt country, in addition to its bloated public service, extravagantly incurs defence expenditures totally unrelated to our needs since the war ended. But getting rid of military personnel, trained in using firearms, into an economy that cannot offer jobs is positively dangerous. Bangladesh discovered this to its cost with its Mukti Bahini created at the time of the liberation war. Releasing trained and often armed soldiers or para militaries into the civilian world without proper employment available to them can mean buying trouble.

Many of us have strong opinions that the new gun control regulation, first in three decades, recently passed by the U.S. Congress is too little, too late. The U.S. has been bedevilled over a very long period of time by wanton killings enabled by lax gun laws in that country. The National Rifle Association (NRA), an immensely wealthy organization known to fund the Republican Party has for decades successfully lobbied against vitally needed gun control laws. This was most recently illustrated by the brutal massacre of 19 toddler and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. But it must be acknowledged that the bill recently enacted by Congress is significant in that it received an unprecedented level of support from Republicans. All 50 Democratic Senators and 15 Republicans endorsed the bill in a 65-33 vote.

President Biden is on record saying, “After 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to heed the call of families across the country and passed legislation to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities”. Although these new regulations fall far short of the controls required to contain the “scourge of gun violence” in the USA, a scourge that has claimed the lives of close to 40,000 lives per year for decades, it’s still a start. As far as we are concerned, our problem is nowhere near that of the U.S. where guns can be easily and freely purchased. While this is not so in Sri Lanka, far too many military weapons imported for use in the war continue to be in the wrong hands.