Why Punjab is glorifying gun culture

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Editor's note: It was a noisy winter wedding in Kotkapura town of Punjab's Faridkot district in November of 2017. The occasion was “ladies’ sangeet”. It is a loud pre-wedding festivity where the family dances and sings traditional Punjabi songs. Amid multiple rounds of whisky and rum, no one noticed when the celebratory firing began. At that wedding, a .32 bore revolver—a symbol of assertive male prestige—got more attention than the groom himself. Three men had already fired four bullets. It is when the groom's maternal uncle Balwinder Singh took the stage, allegedly snatched the gun from another uncle, and opened fire. That fifth bullet hit 8-year-old Vikram.  The only child of Kulwinder Singh, a typist at the local court complex in Faridkot, Vikram started bleeding at the spot. His father rushed him to the nearest local hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival.  The boy is not the only casualty of such a celebratory firing in Punjab. In January 2021, Lohri celebrations in Talwandi Sabo town of Bathinda turned into a tragedy when Surjit Singh fired a shot from his licensed …