The beginning of this story lured me in.
Atlanta (CNN)Guns are not a part of the culture of my homeland, except perhaps for the occasional Bollywood movie in which the bad guy meets his demise staring down the wrong end of a barrel.
My childhood in India was steeped in ahimsa, the tenet of nonviolence toward all living things.The Indians may have succeeded in ousting the British, but we won with Gandhian-style civil disobedience, not a revolutionary war.I grew up not knowing a single gun owner, and even today India has one of the strictest gun laws on the planet. Few Indians buy and keep firearms at home, and gun violence is nowhere near the problem it is in the United States. An American is 12 times more likely to be killed by a firearm than an Indian, according to a recent study.
I was expecting another lefty rant about how Americans are nuts for defending their right to bear arms. Instead, I read a thoughtful article by a woman who was truly trying to inquire with an open mind. She ended:
I leave the convention trying to reconcile what I’ve gathered on this day with the philosophy of nonviolence with which I was raised. I am not certain that vast cultural differences can be bridged in a few hours, but I am glad I got a glimpse into the world of guns. I have much to consider.
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