Round The World

New Delhi, 22 June, 2016

Orlando Killings

US’s NEW TERROR REALITY

By Amrita Banerjee

(School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi)

The toxic forces of global jihadist terror, lax gun control laws and pernicious homophobia converged recently at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. The outcome was the deadliest mass shooting in the history of United States and the nation’s worst terror attack since 9/11.

Shockingly, a US-born son of Afghan immigrants 29-year old Omar Mateen killed 50 people and injured over 53 using both a handgun and a “long gun”, an AR-15-style assault rifle.

This bloodshed, marking the 16th mass shooting during the Barack Obama’s Presidency underscore the plague of peaceful American society: Gun proliferation bolstered by Constitutional protection under the Second Amendment and relentless lobbying on Capitol Hill by the National Rifle Association with its deep pockets.

Mateen, who ranted about gay people in the past, meticulously targeted the gay nightclub, reflecting the persistence of deep prejudices about the community, notwithstanding the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision nearly a year ago upholding marriage equality.

While the latest attack is another grim bookmark in the annals of gun control reform and hate crimes against the LGBT community, the standout dimension of the incident undeniably is the creeping menace of “lone wolf” attacks linked to the Islamic State (IS) and a prognosis for the American Security State.

Notably, the surest sign of the heightened political temperature surrounding domestic terrorism came from the instant reactions of the two Presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While both focused on scoring political points, neither sought to tackle the phenomenon of mounting lone wolf attacks.

Earlier, Mateen on a call  to the 911 emergency line had sworn allegiance to IS. Experts noted that such a pledge is considered a core element of the IS “protocol”. Last December, the San Bernardino California attackers posted such an oath of allegiance on Facebook.

Such public pledges prior to a violent attack eerily mesh with the recent exhortations of IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who extolled supporters to kill innocents in America and Europe during the holy month of Ramzan.

Importantly, hate crimes in the US have become a part and parcel of American life today. This has raised many critical issues impinging on the polity and social fabric. One, it raises questions about the level of acceptance of the LGBT community in America.  

Pertinently, the bar under attack was supposedly "the hottest gay bar" in Orlando which usually hosted its "Latin flavor" event every Saturday night. From the beginning, it has served as a place of love and acceptance for the LGBTQ community.

Reiterated Obama, “it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds and to advocate for their civil rights”. However, the remorseless killing of predominantly Latino LGBT people is shameful.

Two, how does one ensure that firearms do not fall into wrong hands. The cold reality in America is that persons with a dubious record can also get gun licences by taking advantage of the Constitutional ‘right to bear arms’, a provision which has been very loosely interpreted.

A catalyst in this appalling situation is the clout that the pro-gun lobby like the National Rifles Association (NRA) enjoys. President Obama who waxed eloquently in favour of a stricter gun policy before he was elected had to tone down his opposition to the NRA because the latter is politically too powerful to be antagonised.

A clearly dismayed Obama even admitted the difficulty of passing legislation or even addressing the gun control issue in a gridlocked Washington of entrenched political interests.

True, the White House goes all out to express its determination in putting an end to the gun menace whenever there are serious incidents like the April 2007 Virginia Tech case and the December 2012 Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School killing.

Alas, such resolve does not go beyond rhetoric. Undoubtedly, the national failure to address gun violence in a meaningful way is one of the embarrassments of this age.

Moreover, the Administration’s travails are compounded by a judiciary which has put its foot down against any wholesale ban on firearms. It endorses only reasonable restrictions on ownership and the right to carry a weapon from place to place.

Three, the Orlando killings, is an act of domestic terrorism, a violent crime to intimidate or coerce civilian population by means of mass assassination or destruction to draw the Government’s attention to their cause.

Significantly, Mateen’s apparent motivation and behaviour, fits this definition. Consequently, this unfortunate incident is both a hate crime and America’s new home grown terror reality, a pure act of cowardice that urgently needs to be addressed.

Categorizing mass violence motivated by bigotry as domestic terrorism would also compel the Federal Government to study, monitor, track, prosecute and ultimately prevent the hateful actions of demented individuals.

Certainly, the Obama Administration is right in viewing Islamic State not as some far-away militia which poses no threat to the US, but as a dangerous group whose hostility to the country can have immediate and terrible consequences especially when the perpetrators are acting on their own without direct orders or support from the organization.

True, not all Muslims should be blamed for the acts of fanatics and fundamentalists. Notwithstanding, the attacks were denounced by numerous groups, including the Vatican, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, it is vital that the Federal Government allocate resources towards countering violent extremism by hate groups which target communities of colour, gender and faith.

Succinctly, unquestionably hate violence stubbornly persists in the US and Americans must mount multi-pronged, structural approaches to confront it. Whereby, in order to address the roots of hate violence perpetrated by individuals it must come to terms with the structural inequities in America. A crucial reason why most mass shootings occur and the country endures a steady parade of such killings.

Clearly, the cycles of economic, education, incarceration and housing policies which abandon, criminalize and disenfranchise black, brown and minorities foster an environment in which hateful individuals feel empowered to violently target already marginalized communities.

Thus, without overreach that would amount to curbing civil liberties, America’s surveillance and security apparatus would have to respond with a higher level of creativity to deal with lone wolf strikes because in the US it is all too easy for a psychotic, bigoted or unstable individual with leanings towards jihadist extremism to act out his beliefs in a land that has one gun for every human being.

Last and most important, the FBI should also conduct its investigation with more precision as records suggest they had already interviewed Mateen twice and let him free as there was no evidence of terror links.

Surely, the FBI can control this ‘lone wolf menace’ considerably if it maintains a list of suspicious people and does not let them go from their radar  and continuously keep vigil even after they are given clean chit. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)