Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Note: Readers who prefer not to read about such disturbing topics like school shootings may please skip reading (rest of) this post. This event seems to have happened on 26th February 2018 at the White House. This link has the official White House video and transcript of the meeting: Remarks by President Trump at 2018 White House Business Session with Governors, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-2018-white-house-business-session-governors/ . President Trump in his introduction, suggested five steps to improve school safety. I have given below the related words of his in full. * But we have to take steps to harden our schools so that they are less vulnerable to attack.  This includes allowing well-trained and certified school personnel to carry concealed firearms.  At some point, you need volume.  I don’t know that a school is going to be able to hire a hundred security guards that are armed.  Plus, you know, I got to watch...

Note: Readers who prefer not to read about such disturbing topics like mass shootings may please skip reading (rest of) this post. With AR-15s, Mass Shooters Attack With the Rifle Firepower Typically Used by Infantry Troops, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/28/us/ar-15-rifle-mass-shootings.html , 28th Feb. 2018 Some points from the above article: * AR-15 has been used as either the only gun or one of the guns, in the following mass shootings:   a) Parkland, Flordia, Feb. 2018, 17 killed   b) Sutherland Springs, Texas, Nov. 2017, 28 killed   c) Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 2017, 58 killed   d) San Bernardino, California, Dec. 2015, 14 killed   e) Newton, Connecticut (Sandy Hook), Dec. 2012, 27 killed   f) Aurora, Colorado, Jul. 2012, 12 killed * AR-15 is a civilian rifle which is quite close to functionality of USA military M16 and M4 rifles. * Main difference between USA military's M16 and M4 rifles and an AR-15 civilian rifle is: M16...

Note that readers who prefer not to read about such disturbing matters like guns, assault rifles and armed right-wing groups may please skip reading the rest of this post. This post touches upon a very senstive topic. After some thought I felt it appropriate to publicly express my views on this topic. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault%20rifle defines assault rifle as "any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles (such as the AK-47) that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire; also : a rifle that resembles a military assault rifle but is designed to allow only semiautomatic fire". The AR-15 which was used in both the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Florida, USA in June 2016 and in the Parkland school mass shooting in Florida, USA in February 2018, is referred to as an assault weapon in the media but according to more authoritative sources, is not an assault weapon (but is close to it). A small extract from concluding part ...

It was very nice to see a week-long visit from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his family to India. They traveled to various cities in the country with PM Trudeau meeting govt. leaders, business leaders, film stars, civil society leaders, students etc. The family also visited important cultural and religious heritage sites in India. As an Indian citizen living in India I am all for close Indo-Canadian ties. One issue though which hopefully will get resolved in the near future is the serious concern expressed by some Indian govt. leaders about some Indian origin people in Canada who seem to be involved in a separatist movement. Barring that issue, I think there is tremendous amount of common values shared between Canada and India like democracy, freedom of religion (including freedom to have no faith), rule of law etc. In the 1980s I visited Toronto and Montreal driving by road from USA. I enjoyed those visits to Canada. Given below are some pics and text courtesy:  https://...

Note that readers who prefer not to read about such tragic and disturbing matters like school shootings may please skip reading the rest of this post. Stoneman Douglas cop resigns; sheriff says he should have 'killed the killer', http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-florida-shooting-sro-20180222-story.html , 23-Feb-2018 This seems so surreal for me for a country that is not facing an assault from an enemy. But the reality is that a 19 year old student turned into a human killing machine because of the AR-15 that he could legally buy. OK the gun debate has been going on endlessly in the USA - we all know that. But the gun guys had suggested that armed persons in the school may have solved the problem. I saw the entire video of that 'listening' session in the White House. I was willing to keep an open mind on this as I really don't know how such things work in a gun-enabled society. Now it emerges that there was an a...