A Farewell to Arms.

Even as President Barack Obama pushes for gun control in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, the demand for firearms exploded in US and Wal-Mart has sold out all its stock. There is an old Russian saying “When the guns talk, the muses fall silent.” In India and Nepal there are knives used by ethnic groups like Sikhs and Gurkhas who wear an utility knife a symbolic weapon of the Nepalese army. It is called the Gurkha knife part of the Regimental weaponry and used even by Commonwealth soldiers including Merril’s Marauders, Canadian scouts and snipers of NW Europe. In September 2010, Bishnu Shrestha, a retired Indian Army Soldier alone and armed with a Kukri, defeated 25 bandits who attacked a passenger train. He killed 3 bandits wounded 8 forcing the rest to flee. All who carry Kukri strictly adhere to the inflexible warrior code of conduct: Never unsheathe the blade in vain; once bared the steel has to be quenched in blood. Weapons are not toys, and without a code, the right to bear arms morphs into a right to wage carnage. A spiritual essence runs in all great warriors who take up arms, otherwise just an infatuation with guns and hunting knives will only lead to an evisceration of humanity.