This Grand Slam winner survived a school shooting | #106
Also, iconic Ravi Shastri moments ➡️
Friends,
The United States witnessed a terrible tragedy when an 18 year old, with access to assault rifles, shot his grandmother and then proceeded to kill 19 school children and two teachers.
Despite many attempts at bringing in gun control regulations, the politicians at the helm haven’t been able to do so. This week we take a look at school shootings and see if lessons have been learnt or not.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
One of the first documentaries to show the extent of the gun lobby preventing common-sense measures was shown in the film ‘Bowling for Columbine’. While a lot of things said in the movie were true, the title itself was misleading. The movie showed them spending hours before the shooting at a bowling alley. But investigations have confirmed the shooters didn’t go bowling that day. Given its unprecedented nature, the shooters and their backstory, complete with full page photos, got a lot of footage in TV and newsprint. But the media has learnt not to highlight the perpetrator of these types of crimes now and instead focus on the tragedy and how to prevent them further.
Andy Murray is a 3 time grand slam winner and a 2 time Olympics Gold medalist in tennis. But he could have been a victim of a mass shooting in his school. In 1996, while attending school, Andy and his brother Jamie, survived the attack by hiding under a desk. 18 people including the perpetrator were killed. Post the massacre, the United Kingdom passed 2 landmark firearms acts that prevented private ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom. There hasn’t been a single school shooting incident in the UK since.
India has stricter rules for gun ownership, but is not immune to school shootings. In order to settle a quarrel, a boy took his father’s gun, hid it in his sock and brought it into his school in Gurgaon. Shortly after school, the boy and a classmate confronted a third student, Abhishek Tyagi, in a school hall and took turns shooting him, apparently at close range. The parents, who are real estate agents, had large dealings in cash and hence kept guns at home. The school blamed the parents for being irresponsible gun owners.
From IWTK, with love 💌
A tale of Man vs Machine or in this case a man who created a machine to beat any man. A tale of how checkers was solved.
Ravi Shastri celebrated his 60th birthday this week. He was a superb cricketer, but also was the soundtrack behind some of Indian cricket’s most iconic moments. Relive the magical moments.
IWTK Recommends 💯
Bowling for Columbine (YouTube) - A documentary that takes a look at the Columbine school massacre but also talks about how the gun lobby is powerful in the United States. Watch it to see Charlton Heston walk out of an interview, when confronted with some uncomfortable questions.
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❤️ IWTK