Could Virginia incident happen on Indian campus?

GUNNED DOWN: Prof Loganathan (inset left) and student Minal Panchal died in the shooting.

    

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New Delhi: The gunman who opened fire in Virginia Tech, killing 32 people including a professor from India was identified by the Virginia Tech Police on Tuesday evening. Cho Sueng Hui, belonging to South Korea was a student of the university. Cho was an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major. He lived in a Virginia Tech dormitory.

The police say that the same weapon was used in both the shootouts and that the first victim of the shooting was a woman known to the killer. This has been the deadliest mass shooting in US history and has reopened the debate on gun control laws in the US.

In wake of the tragedy at Virgina Tech, the question that was being debated on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was whether there was anything for Indians to get worried about? Could a Virginia Tech happen on an Indian campus?

On the panel, to try and answer the question were IIT Delhi Sociologist, Amrit Srinivasan and Professor Finance in the School of Business, Virginia Tech, Raman Kumar. Professor Kumar had known Professor Loganathan - an Indian-origin professor who died in the campus carnage - for more than 20 years.

The professor was visibly upset saying that he was still shocked that something like this could happen on a campus like Virginia Tech and to someone like Professor Loganathan.

"Professor Loganathan was a full professor in the university and had won one of the most prestigious awards called the Wine award. He was also very popular amongst the students," said Porfessor Kumar.

He added that the Indian community was helping Professor Loganathan's wife and his family at the moment. He said that it was a shame that people were allowed to bring guns into an educational institute.

Gun law or campus cultural?

Is it simply the gun laws that are wrong in the US or is it also to do with the culture that prevails on American campuses? To this Amrit Srinivasan said that it would be simplistic to think that the incident was only to do with the gun culture in the US.

"Technology is what you make of it and there has been a history of such incidents in the US. It happened in Canada last year when Kimveer Gill did the same senseless thing," she said.

However, she cautioned that Indians should not think of themselevs and their culture as superior or think that the Americans are bad people.

"It's interesting to note that many of these people are young, they are males and they have been alienated in a country which is not their own. Add to this the fact that they have accessibility to guns and new virtual reality games. All this becomes a lethal combination," she said.

Is the Indian society becoming more restless?

There has been a sense of late that the Indian society is becoming more restless and more violect, less accepting of issues around them. Keeping these in mind, should we be on our toes, waiting for a Virginia Tech to happen in India?

Amrit Srinivasan said that Indians would at the most gherao a professor or beat each other up, or go against teachers. She said that the killings on Indian campuses were mostly politically motivated. On US campuses on the other hand, violence is largely sociological and extremely culturally oriented - the children there are quite protected from real life - in nature.

"The children there do not have many responsibilities but they are open to so many possibilities, guns and technology being a few," she said.

Greater emphasis be given to interaction within a community, something which is largely absent in America. It has got nothing to do with just the gun laws in India.

US GUN LAW
	Any state resident over the age of 18 can walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon on the spot, subject to an instant criminal check.
	Even those who fail the criminal check may buy a weapon if the sale takes place away from a licensed gun shop.
	Guns such as AK-47s and Uzis are easy to buy as hunting rifless.
	In New Mexico there are no restrictions on the number of guns state residents can purchase at any one time.
	In Wyoming it is perfectly legal to sell a handgun to a child.