Guns’ control is a hot and endless debate in the United States of America while Americans continue to suffer while violence leads to countless victims. The debate turns around reviewing the Second Amendment of the America’s Constitution while preserving people’s rights to keep and bear arms for their own protection. The debate faces a huge lobby opposing the control of guns, though being currently challenged by the mounting extremism and terrorism all around the world. The debate experiences also the revival of racism and unfortunate mistrust between black-white. However, lobbyists still find ways-convictions to have the debate going on and on. This is a US choice framed within democratic institutions with performing security Services. Think about it in different context!
While a friend of mine was telling us a story of the former Zairean Army Forces (Forces Armées Zairoises “FAZ”), I thought the debate would have taken a deep shape to understand the difference of the Mobutu’s era and what’s going on now. The scope would have allowed a discussion on what can be done to end such doings. In a joking—monopolized way, the orator reminds a man who suddenly come across these former security forces during the Mobutu’s regime. The FAZ behaved through what can be summarized as Predatory-Jungle mood or system if you want. The awkwardly behavior was so rude in these remote areas such as my village. Keep it simple that #MyVillage represents all these areas where government officials were God’s substitutes. This is another hot debate keeps coming while we would rather be looking at what can currently be done in terms of reforming our Security Services to meet professionalism capabilities.
By suddenly meeting the FAZ, the man had no choice to run away as it used to be. Then, he thought that he can be saved by proving the ever-existed infirmity. He decides to pull his arms to show the disability so that these soldiers would have compassion and let him go. The blogger guesses that through experiences, FAZ soldiers would have met such civilians’ responses in front of frightened context. It was during a short discussion, as told by the friend, that one of these soldiers asked “gently” how the arm was before it fell into disability. Unconsciously, the man pulled back the arm and said “before it was like this and then it becomes as you find me”. Look at it in angle of an embarrassing responses dealing with unexpected events and how it can entrap us from our own actions.
The story we’ve told ended in a laughing context as we did not have an occasion to ask questions or debate on what was that. We do simply circumvent by calling them “Katanyama” and that say a lot for saying nothing. What can we draw from that story that might have taken place? Can we see individuals’ responsibility overwhelming that of the system? I always feel that the Mobutu’s regime was the bad one though we need to see if things have really changed as expected or if we have done the necessary to solve these ‘drawbacks’. Though the socio-political context during Mobutu’s regime required getting a change, the use of guns had slightly led to innocent people’s killings. On the other hand, it was unlike to find civilians playing with guns as if it’s a toolkit for babies and children in nursey school. Holding a gun was a prohibited thing that you could of course pay for in case you were caught in; this must be one of the parameter impacting what we are facing nowadays.
In a nutshell, the blogger concerns with the inherited history of the colonial and Mobutu’s regime, adding up the socio-political context of violence in which we’ve been passing through. Consequently, he brings forward few foods for thought. The first one questions the professionalism of the security services institutions that can impartially help them to perform their primary missions. The recruitment of security servicemen must be well selective and putting in place mechanisms that can enhance the future professionalism prospect. Secondly, there is an emergency of re-establishing mechanisms that can widely control the use of firearms within the hands of people who haven’t ever been trained for. It’s even worthwhile to initiate the control with an environment that helps the ban of guns through supporting the bring-back firearms form civilians. Enough is enough to have people being killed for a matter that can be solved by paying just a goat or something less valued. As the State authority is yet enforced, revenge has taken lives of countless innocent people.
Thirdly, sustainably solving most of problems that faces the country has to firmly stand up to see the truth in front of us. That simply tries to mean that there are countless victims of these wrong-doing where grievances have become long-seated into people’s minds. It’s possible that in every hour the country loses sons/daughters because of the widespread of guns all around the country. The reader recalls the fragile sociopolitical context characterizing the Eastern part of DRC and the way it continues to engulf its recover. Therefore, the article calls upon leaders’ responsibility to work on all these challenges that have been adding victims to victims, victims to millions who lost their lives into decades of violence. Those interested in elections have to convince on alternatives than fighting to envy these top positions.
NTANYOMA R. Delphin
Secrétaire Exécutif & Coordonnateur
Appui au Développement Intégré &
à la Gouvernance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Delphino12
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