While the 1990s were known for its exciting new technology, music, and television, many tend to overlook the darker events of the decade. In addition to the Oklahoma city bombing and the riots in Los Angeles, the Columbine High School Shooting was another dreadful event that resulted in numerous deaths of innocent people.
In the spring of 1999 in Columbine, Colorado, two teens named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shot up Columbine High School, murdering twelve students and one teacher and injuring twenty one more. Right after their killing spree, the two boys turned their guns on themselves and committed suicide.
On the morning of April 20th, Dylan and Eric, both students at Columbine High School, went to the cafeteria to place a propane bomb that was set to detonate at 11:17. However, after the bomb failed to go off, the two began shooting down students at 11:19 am. Minutes later, they moved into the library and gunned down even more before turning the guns onto themselves.
The motive of their shooting was never confirmed, but it was speculated that the boys targeted minorities, athletes, and Christians. Apparently, Dylan and Eric had been planning the massacre for a year, and they hoped they could kill the most people in a massacre in United States history. Prior to the shooting, the two made videos referencing their plans and apologizing to their parents.
After 1999, 11 school rampage shootings occurred, all with traits and evidence imitating the Columbine shooting, and this “effect” was later dubbed “The Columbine Effect”.
At the time, the Columbine Shooting was the worst and most lethal school shooting in United States history, and was later surpassed by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. This event happened more than two decades ago, but the issues it brought up are more relevant today than ever. The Columbine shooting was the first shooting that sparked today’s debate on gun control. America’s hundreds of school shootings have spurred action from organizations like March for Our Lives and even inspired movements like #Neveragain.
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It's really tragic that many of these shootings are carried out partially due to inspiration from previous acts of violence. In this case, the perpetrators' journals revealed that they wanted to repeat the Oklahoma City bombings in their school. Recently, the increase in such events has also brought up the question of whether the media should be revealing the names of perpetrators, as it gives criminals fame and notoriety and may cause potential inspiration to others.
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https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings
https://www.dontnamethem.org/
This is such a tragic event as it is, but it is even more saddening and horrifying how trends of school shootings and mass shootings continued to increase ever since. Upon doing more research on the Columbine Effect, I found out that there have been numerous attempts by youth, who "idolized" the Columbine shooting and planned to outperform Klebold and Harris. As of now, there are 74 of these "copycat" cases, 21 of which were carried out as full attacks since Columbine. However, Columbine has created a shift in American schools' missions for their students. As a result of the violence that has taken place since 1999, schools have expanded their services for students by providing more outlets for those struggling with mental health issues as a means of violence prevention.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.kunc.org/post/columbine-then-and-now-evolution-mental-health-care#stream/0
https://www.crimetraveller.org/2015/10/columbine-effect/