Shooting At Wisconsin Sikh Temple (Gurdwara)

[Shamshere]

Maybe the time has come to hang a sign outside gurdwaras stating 'We are not Muslims!' especially in America where they don't know much about Sikhs.

[HKaur16]

I live in the USA this is such a saddening incident. Waheguru bless those souls. This is such a horrible incident that occurred to our community. I have heard (its just a rumor not a fact) that the shooter had "9-11" tattooed on his arm.

So hurtful and painful something like this happening to our brothers and sisters.

[DaljitKaur24]

WJK WJKF to all

This has truly been a sad day for our kaum where a lowlife with pure hatred in his thoughts and no concern for human life who(according to what I have heard) was able to walk right into the Wisconsin Gurudwara and open fire. He accomplished what he came to do and what troubles me most is how easily he was able to achieve his inhumane goal. When i first heard of the shooting, like many have mentioned before, the first thing that came to my mind was that there was probably an internal fight between the sangat or the committee members which is also incredibly sad.

I'm not sure if the rest of you agree but did anyone else stop and think why our Gurudwaras are left so vulnerable? Anyone can walk in and start something with things as they are now in the majority of the temples we have especially in the states. In most of them, it's just the bazurg granthis alone with a few fellow singhs and that's it running the place. Don't you think that before committee members keep opening more and more Gurudwaras for their selfish purposes that we as the youth should be able to offer protection for the ones that exist first? What has happened to the "warrior" in our religion? What saddened me most is that I heard some of the victims were the granthi and the kirtanis? These are the very people who help give light to our path and guide us when we're lost so if someone can shed some light on that, it would be much appreciated. In my local Gurudwara, there were elections recently and the people running hired kalas for protection and other Gurudwaras are following the same trend--keeping kalas up at the front in case anyone interferes or causes any disturbances. While it's nice to see them so joyful & happy serving the Gurudwara, why can't we fend for ourselves and protect the palace of our beloved Maharaja? All I see are big bellied uncles, chubby aunties, or stick-like figures that look like all life has been drained from them. I don't want to judge but barely any of them appear physically active and this is my motivation for working out and trying to get as strong as possible through training and martial arts so when things like this happen, I can do anything I can to put myself to use and even if I fail, at least I know I tried in some way serving my Guru. Additionally, where are our shastars…we keep these low quality blunt blades up at the front on the golak area "out of reach" in case of an incident..and for what? I honestly think there should be a minimum of two young singh pehredaars at each front entrance of our Guru Ghars. Someone was able to enter our Guru's house today and open fire and what did we do? What can we even do? Do we just simply allow it to happen? Do we stand by and let our few fellow real singhs and kaurs take the bullets while we run and hide? Or do we start taking measures to do this seva for Guru Sahib. I'd really like it if the money from the self-centered committees actually went to purposes that actually benefit the Gurudwara like security or real martial arts clubs instead of watered down gatka or quality shastars along with people who know how to use them. When I walk into a Gurudwara I often wonder what the old days were like and how the tyaar bar tyaar singhs stood guard proudly by Guru Ji 24/7 reciting Gurbani, armed, and awake throughout the night but today, the environment is completely different. Everything's become about the money and we're becoming more of the "peaceful" type which is good in a way but there is a time to draw a weapon and that time was today and nobody was there to do anything about it. We needed the honored police officer who shot the killer and SWAT team to come in and do the job for us. Where was our responsibility to our Guru? It's a two way relationship. I know people hold these youth meetings and discuss these issues in depth but after a while like someone mentioned in this or the other thread about the shooting, everyone forgets about it. Don't let it happen again. Lets take the next step together as the sikhsangat of the world. I am well aware that there a few faults in what I've written so please forgive me. I just wanted to get the general message across and attempt to motivate ourselves. If I have mentioned anything disrespectful , please let me know and I apologize for it in advance. Also, if you have any suggestions as to how differences can be made, please do share. WJK WJKF

You know I was thinking the same thing like how come we don't have any sort of security guards since it seems like we are being targeted. I did not write that on here because I know some people would be like anyone can come to the Gurdwara so therefore we don't need security guards. I was watching a video on youtube and the white guy was talking about i believe couple years ago there was a shooting in Colorado but they had a security guard who was able to fire back at the shooter and save hundreds of people who were inside the church. We can certainly implement something like that at our Gurdwara's too I don't think there is nothing wrong with that because we would be protecting our Gurdwaras and our people.

[DaljitKaur24]

I live in the USA this is such a saddening incident. Waheguru bless those souls. This is such a horrible incident that occurred to our community. I have heard (its just a rumor not a fact) that the shooter had "9-11" tattooed on his arm.

So hurtful and painful something like this happening to our brothers and sisters.

I heard this on video on youtube that there were 4 man team behind the shooting who were dressed in all black carried out the massacered.

[singher23]

There is no security at gurdwaras the same reason there is no security at mosques or churches or synagogues. No one expects places of worship to be attacked.

We don't need to hire security. What we need to do is remember Guruji's words and arm ourselves.

I've signed up for a firearm safety course. After that I'm going to buy a sidearm and take lessons. Then I'm going to get a concealed carry permit so if someone tries to do the same thing in my gurdwara, I'll be ready.

[DaljitKaur24]

Well some are saying that due to all these shootings that have occurred recently government might outlaw firearms. I dont know whether that will be good thing or not

[singher23]

Well some are saying that due to all these shootings that have occurred recently government might outlaw firearms. I dont know whether that will be good thing or not

Supreme court has ruled its unconstitutional to ban firearms

[Beginner]

I live in the USA this is such a saddening incident. Waheguru bless those souls. This is such a horrible incident that occurred to our community. I have heard (its just a rumor not a fact) that the shooter had "9-11" tattooed on his arm.

So hurtful and painful something like this happening to our brothers and sisters.

Keep us updated on any new experiences there in the US. Some might attempt to offer their condolences to you brother.

[DaljitKaur24]

Supreme court has ruled its unconstitutional to ban firearms

I'm sure it can be turned over in a state of emergency.

[DaljitKaur24]

Jaswinder Singh President of Seattle Sikh Temple released that they are discussing about security measure here at our Gurdwara now since it's a smaller Sikh community and could easily be targeted. I just can't believe that what those people that witnessed this hate crime must be going through? Especially if there were little children they are going to be scarred for life and traumatized.