VidaKashizadeh

What have mobile phones in common with handguns?

Well, their manufacturers have already explored all different channels for potential consumers and have now been increasingly targeting younger children.

However the difference between the two businesses is that the mobile phone industry has now managed to create a new need in adult consumers, so that they feel they have to buy an up-to-date model every year.

For this reason this business is now – to some extend - less dependent on entirely new users.

In contrast the buyers of handguns have to hide them and keep the same model in their cupboards for years.

This in turn means that gun manufacturers have to continuously look for new groups of buyers or hirers.

Throughout the last century mainly armies, guerrillas and gangsters were well supplied with arms. But in capitalism when there is a surplus in production then the demand for that production can also be manufactured, though initially only on a cultural level by affecting the consciousness.

At present the easiest target group for gun manufacturers in UK are of course the children.

This is particularly so because boys from an early age have access to computer games that give them the skills they need in aiming at, and shooting targets without having to use any weapons at all.

But once the skill is there it will be hard for a child to resist the temptation of trying it in real as well - that is if they easily come across it within their own social environment.

In this manner the young boys’ initiation into fights takes place already symbolically while sitting at the desk without the urban tribe being even conscious of his readiness for a battle.

It is only a matter of time and life circumstances that will determine if the boy gets the chance to go through other initiations of becoming an adult or will end up as part of a local gang that represents a dysfunctional tribe.

But who will be the main victims of children who are prepared to shoot?

They will be of course other children who are caught in similar social environment and become unfortunate victims of their circumstances.

Whereas in the past an argument between two children would be likely to end up as a physical fight between the two with others watching; now fights are becoming increasingly subject to a taboo of touch, hence the increased use of knives and guns.

An argument takes place via use of mobile phones or texts and a finger that presses the trigger.

And if the UK army is shooting in other countries - bullying other nations - how are you going to convince the children here that bullying is not the way to deal with conflicts?

It is no wonder that UK has the highest number of bullying incidents in the schools compared to any other country in Europe.

Of course I am aware that at least in London many schools are trying to tackle this issue. But this can only be really effective if the politicians of the country act their part correctly namely as the supreme role models for the youth.

This should be combined with the acceptance that there exists a surge of testosterone in young boys which needs proper channelling by guided initiation into just and strictly controlled physical artistic battles through the practice of martial arts, wrestling and/or athletics i.e. throwing of spears and weights.

This kind of activities would give them the skill to unite body and mind in order to gain control over the urge for erratic behaviour aggravated by the hormonal changes in the body.

The physical guided fight has also the advantage of making the children conscious of the body’s vulnerability and strengths.

It is not wrong to state that an out of touch person becomes a murderer only by the second murder they may commit.

In killing a person for the first time in his/her life s/he may not have a c lue about the vulnerability of the body or the consequences of their act.

For a first time to-be-killer when attempting to kill by strangling a victim, there is a chance - through the physical contact and the resistance of the victim - to become aware of their own strenuous act and the physicality of the effort, which may stop them from doing it. There is also a chance that the physical resistance and the suffering of the victim would awaken the perpetrator’s humanity.

In contrast to this, pulling a trigger (or using a knife) gives no time or a chance for this to take place. In addition to this there is also no chance of a physical outlet of the excess adrenalin locked in the body - apart from running of course.

As for the present situation and a more instant solution, surely the police force should know better what for and where exactly to look.

The main focus should not be so much – as it is at present - the streets of the UK cities but the actual factories that manufacture these weapons.

After all this is not the work of a frustrated Omar or Asghar with just enough knowledge of chemistry to cook up some explosives in their kitchens.

These weapons are manufactured by investors who buy considerable amount of metal in order to forge them into weapons in well known – to their respective governments – factories using automated tools that are also manufactured by well established companies buying raw metal.

Omar and Asghar bored with the work in their fathers’ corner shop - open 7 days a week (7/7 – damn it, enforce Sabbath again!) – haven’t got much to look forward to - in terms of jobs - except in the only commonly available jobs in retail, perhaps standing at the gates of the shopping centres trying to sell mobile phones to those who have the urge to report their every move to their friends using two phones at the same time if necessary.

Whereas Omar, Asghar and also many Johnnies have little opportunities to secure their future by trying to get used to being ignored - by those who don’t have 3 hands to buy a third phone - and call it experience, the manufacturers of guns are spoiled with opportunities. They are opportunists.

Kosovo and the Irish – in case of Liverpool – have been mentioned to be involved in the gun business, but these are smugglers who would smuggle anything of value at different times.

So it’s better to get to the root of the matter.

We know that the Irish get their guns from USA manufacturers, and Kosovo most likely from UK and USA.

We also know that UK is on the top of the list of arms’ producers of the world.

[And wasn’t it also over a decade ago that I read 70% - 80% of the tax paid by the British goes to the army? If so there is a need for wars isn’t it?

(It’s also high time to ask individuals at the point of their tax pay to fill a well designed form that determine what they want their tax to be spent on. The result will also define what the nation’s priorities are while improving on the practice of democracy at the same time)].

So a major step towards a real solution of the present situation is to strictly guard the factories and check and compare the amount of metal that goes in and out of the factories plus a list of buyers and their respective c lients.

As for older guns already in circulation - apart from amnesty - a campaign in schools would be necessary.

By gaining the trust of the children and support offered, the children can be encouraged to expose dealers who approach them.

The group of children who should be approached initially are those who are in their first year at the secondary schools. This group is the most vulnerable.

They are all new to the school and physically smaller, hence frequently subject to bullying.

The physical smallness with the hopeful prospect of eventually growing larger makes it difficult for this group to admit being victimised and turns it into a shameful and lonely experience.
Without help and support only the time and their environment will show if each becomes a just person or someone who feels s/he has to join the gang in order to survive.

Apart from police investigating in which factories the weapons are made, the local council/communities should also demand a regular detailed report of the purchase of metal and sale of weapons from their local arms’ factories.

In order to prevent surplus in arms’ production these factories’ workers should be the first group of workers who are granted part time work without a reduction in their pay. And if they like they could be provided with allotments to grow their own vegetables if not for the community.

And please don’t tell us the gun dealers are selling guns through the web and you can’t find out who they are.

I have had even a well meaning (?) hacker sending me the link to the inside of my e-mailbox, just to warn me I shouldn’t be leaving the password on the ‘remember me’ option.

( It’s like someone breaking in a house and then reminding the residents not to leave the key on the letter box. Although I must add that I am aware of the fact that once one is connected to the internet there is no such thing as privacy. To be frank usually when I write an e-mail to one person only, I see 10s of faces reading it. Everyone should know by now that life on internet is not private which of course opens other doors.
By the way Wasssharvense let me buy you a coffee. I’m pretty sure a conversation with you would be extremely fruitful. Let me say you have an affinity for Africa and the first reader to know that I have had lost my fear of malaria for some months now. But I doubt if you speak English.
Perhaps slightly embarrassed? Just tell me why you didn’t want other hackers to read my e-mails. Are you better? Yes you are. But where will you go from here?).

I will go as far as to state that if the sources of handguns are not exposed soon, then it is either because those profiting from the sale are key figures in the society or that it is very easy to smuggle arms into this country.

In both cases the system needs a shake.

And those who blame others for ‘envy’ (Al hasud la yasud) should also focus on the problem of their own ‘greed’ that needs to be swept away. There is more to other peoples’ lives than just to yours.

There may be a thing called individual destiny, but there certainly exists a thing which can be called the national destiny.