This story is from February 15, 2018

Disturbed over Florida school shooting, Indian-Americans call for gun control

Disturbed over Florida school shooting, Indian-Americans call for gun control
Suman Ghosh with daughters Maya and Leela
KOLKATA: The attack on Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is the 18th school shooting in the US within the first 45 days of 2018. This data, which is available from a gun control advocacy organization called Everytown for Gun Safety, has obviously got the Indian immigrants with school-going kids in the US worried. The gun control policy, they insist, needs to be relooked at.
Oney Seal, an ecommerce entrepreneur based in Miami, is extremely disturbed by the news of the Florida school massacre.
This school is just six miles away from his Miami residence. “My 15-year-old daughter Trisha goes to Bellaire High in Houston. Some of the recent shooting incidents have taken place in Texas too. I am constantly worried out of my mind about Trisha’s safety. If a 19-year-old with a history of getting into trouble can walk in and buy military grade automatic rifles, obviously something is grossly wrong with the US gun policy as well as the background check,” Seal said.
Miami-based director Suman Ghosh has been left with a feeling of “disgust” for the Republican gun policies when he first heard about Florida massacre that left 17 dead. His two daughters – five-year-old Maya and three-year-old Leela – go to Alexander Montessori. That’s some 20 miles from the school in Coral Springs where the 19-year-old armed with an AR-15 rifle created mayhem. While in Kolkata, the recent allegations of sexual violations in school have left Ghosh disturbed. “In the US, I haven’t heard of sexual violation cases in school. But gun scare on campus is a major concern,” said Ghosh, who is currently in Kolkata.
Los Angeles-based Shoumyo Dasgupta, who is the Chief Data Science Officer at Viacom, is concerned about the safety of his children who are still studying in the US. His 21-year-old daughter, Hashnu, will graduate from University of Washington this year. His son, 17-year-old Roddur, who will finish High School in June, will go to college soon. A year back, there was a gun scare at Roddur’s Northwood High School in California’s Irvine. For Dasgupta, the Florida school attack brought back memories of the tense three hours when there was a “lockdown” at Roddur’s school because of the gun scare. “We were constantly getting mobile alerts.
Thankfully, no one was injured in Roddur’s school. But gun control is one of the many things we need to look at - just taking back guns may not solve the issue. The issue is deeper and a root cause analysis needs to be conducted. It is a symptom of a society suffering from multiple issues,” said Dasgupta.
According to Ghosh, gun control is a big political issue. “The Republican party is a strong supporter of gun possession for terror defence. Given what is happening every month, how a party can support such an obnoxious policy? Some issues are beyond politics. Those who support such policies also have school-going kids,” said Ghosh, who is a professor in economics at Florida Atlantic University.
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About the Author
Priyanka Dasgupta

Priyanka Dasgupta is the features editor of TOI Kolkata. She has over 20 years of experience in covering entertainment, art and culture. She describes herself as sensitive yet hard-hitting, objective yet passionate. Her hobbies include watching cinema, listening to music, travelling, archiving and gardening.

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