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High School Carnage Raises Old Questions Again When two young killers massacred a dozen classmates at Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado, the whole world recoiled in horror and wondered aloud what has gone wrong in American society.  By Michael Lindemann Start Date: 4/25/99 Day after day for the last five weeks, the Balkan war has commanded top headlines. It would be hard to imagine an event that could push that story off page one for a day, let alone several days running. But shortly before noon on Tuesday, April 20, in the normally calm and upbeat Denver suburb of Littleton, Colorado, events unfolded that stunned the world and left U.S. educators, law makers, police, clergy, parents and young people groping for words and understanding. Two students, identified as Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, entered Columbine High School carrying numerous firearms and homemade bombs, and began a rampage that left fifteen dead and more than 20 others seriously injured. The two reportedly killed with sadistic glee, whooping and laughing as they riddled fellow students with bullets. They seemed intent on singling out athletes and ethnic minorities, but anyone could be a target. In one instance, according to an eyewitness, they entered a room and yelled, "Does anyone here believe in God?" A young woman stood up and was promptly shot dead. In the aftermath, it became clear that Harris and Klebold had undertaken a carefully planned massacre that they knew might end in suicide. But they anticipated the possibility of getting away, even after killing hundreds of people, according to a diary found in one of their homes that revealed preparations going back a year. The shooting was still underway when the inevitable questions and soul-searching began. Who were these boys? What drove them to do it? How did they acquire so much fire-power and get it into the school? (At this writing, the question of accomplices and a wider conspiracy remains under investigation.) Were there warning signs, and if so, why did everyone miss them? Who or what is really to blame? Can this happen again? Can it be prevented? The questions are as obvious as they are inevitable. They have been asked before -- repeatedly -- specifically in connection with numerous similar incidents that have erupted on U.S. school campuses during the last 18 months: two girls killed at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi on October 1, 1997 -- the shooter also slit his own mother's throat; three killed and five wounded during a prayer meeting at a school in West Paducah, Kentucky on December 1, 1997 -- the shooter was just 14 years old; five killed at West Side Middle School in Joneboro, Arkansas on March 24, 1998 -- the gunmen in this case were only 11 and 13 years of age; a teacher killed and two boys wounded at a school dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania on April 24, 1998; two killed and 22 wounded at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon on May 21, 1998 -- in this case, the shooter is also charged with killing his parents the previous night. In all, 19 killed and more than 40 wounded on U.S. school campuses in the 18 months leading up to April, 1999. And then came Littleton. An ecological analogy seems to apply. In recent years, environmental scientists have found increasing numbers of deformed frogs in U.S. lakes and streams. Something unknown in nature is causing these amphibians to develop without legs -- obviously a deadly maladaption. Nature does not intend legless frogs. Something, as yet unidentitifed, is terribly out of balance. Similarly, we presume, Nature does not intend that children become sadistic mass murderers. When this happens again and again, something is horribly out of balance. Painful as it is to contemplate, if the conditions that prompted the Littleton massacre do not change, events of this kind will continue. The national dialogue concerning the root causes of these events is therefore urgent and sincere. But whether the wisdom and political will can be found to effectively address the issues remains in doubt. Harris and Klebold are said to have been deeply alienated and disturbed. Many young people today are. But, despite the difficulties of teen-age life in America at the end of the 20th century, most young people manage to cope and do not turn to horrific violence. Indeed, Harris and Klebold did not seem likely candidates to perpetrate such acts -- at least not until recently. They were both considered bright young men. They came from good homes. Friends said they were good natured. But something did happen to these young men a year or more ago that set them on their destructive path. They became obsessed with war and weapons, and fascinated by Nazi Germany (their rampage fell on Hitler's birthday). They played violent video games incessantly, and participated in paintball war exercises. They joined the so-called "Trenchcoat mafia" -- a group of disaffected students who reveled in "gothic" subculture. They became especially hostile toward student athletes as well as ethnic minorities. Why did two smart, promising young men turn down this road? No one really knows. Could it have been prevented? No one can say precisely how. It has been observed that children in America see thousands of brutally violent acts portrayed on television every year -- and that the typical teen spends up to 20 times more hours in front of television than in direct contact with their parents. Sociologists and psychologists are divided on whether or not there is a causal relationship between fantasy violence on TV and in song lyrics, and real violence acted out by young people. Intuitively, it seems likely that such a correlation exists. But no one can say how violence could be rooted out of the entertainment media, when the paying audience for violence is so large, and the appetite for more extreme depictions of violence keeps growing. It has been observed that many young people today have low aspirations for the future. Many people -- children and adults alike -- believe that the current teen generation cannot expect, on average, to earn as much money or be as secure in adulthood as their parents. The world at the turn of the millennium is fraught with uncertainty and foreboding. Many youths are painfully aware of environmental destruction, economic turmoil and other factors that the typical adult often ignores in the bustle of daily activity. Such awareness may breed despair and dark fatalism in many young people. One consequence is that teen suicides in the U.S. have become shockingly numerous -- some three times the rate seen in the early 1960s. Once a young person seriously considers suicide, it may well become possible, for some at least, to consider other dark deeds as well. In the aftermath of the Littleton massacre, the easiest target for political commentary is gun control. Predictably, much attention has focused on the apparent ease with which Harris and Klebold acquired their formidable arsenal. Predictably, there were immediate calls in Congress and the Justice Department, among other places, to enact stricter gun control measures. A bill pending in the Colorado legislature which would have made it easier to carry a concealed firearm was removed from the legislative docket the day after the Littleton shootings. Also predictably, the National Rifle Association, which is scheduled to hold its national convention in Denver this month, responded to the Littleton events with dogmatic assurances that guns were not to blame. NRA president Charlton Heston said that public schools would be better off with armed guards. The endless debate over guns and gun control is a distinctly U.S. phenomenon. Most other Western nations regard the United States as a bizarrely violent culture, obsessed with guns. In point of fact, no other developed nation on Earth has as many guns per capita -- according to the Justice Department, about 235 million guns are owned in the U.S., or slightly less than one for every man, woman and child. Nor can any other Western nation look back upon its history and see guns play such a central role as they have in the United States. From the Revolution to the Indian wars, the Civil War and the Wild West, the U.S. was born and built at the point of a gun. Guns have also killed four U.S. presidents and account for an estimated 30,000 deaths (intentional shootings, accidents and suicides) every year. Also a uniquely U.S. institution, and at the very heart of gun control arguments, is the Second Amendment to the Constitution: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Advocates of unfettered gun possession point to the second half of that statement as their sacred guarantee, ignoring the significance of the preceding language. When the U.S. Bill of Rights was written, nine-tenths of the territory that would later become the United States was still unexplored wilderness. Much of it was populated by Native Americans who had shown themselves to be fearsome warriors. Much was also still controlled by colonial powers -- England, France, Spain -- who might not remain friendly toward the fledgling U.S.A. And there was no standing army of the Republic. Instead, there were only thousands of settlers, each with their long rifles and pistols. These guns were primitive. The modern bullet had not yet been invented, nor had the revolver. No gun could fire more than twice without being laboriously reloaded. In short, the conditions in which the Second Amendment made good sense were radically different than they are today. These facts have not been lost on legislators who favor gun control. Even so, in the United States, gun possession is widely regarded as an inalienable right -- even including possession of automatic weapons more powerful than an entire garrison of 18th century rifles. Would tighter gun control prevent tragedies like Littleton? Inevitably, again, experts and the general public are divided. But Harris and Klebold, unlike any of the other teen killers in recent memory, did not rely solely on guns. They made and brought with them an estimated 30 pipe bombs. Some were of very sophisticated design, according to munitions experts who spoke to the press. A large number of the injuries in the Littleton massacre were caused by bomb fragments. One bomb was even detonated blocks away from the school, apparently as a diversion. Yet, most of the bombs were not used. They were found strewn about, unexploded, many hidden in napsacks in various schoolrooms. It is fair to say, then, that if Harris and Klebold had used more of their bombs, they could easily have done as much damage, even if they never fired one shot. Clearly, gun control alone would not have prevented this mayhem. Yet, a growing majority in the United States is becoming convinced that gun control is necessary and long overdue. And tighter legislation is a virtual certainty. In due course, it is not beyond imagining that a move will be made to repeal the Second Amendment. The fight over gun control will be among the most contentious in U.S. legislative history, very likely making the fight over abortion look tame by comparison. Meanwhile, the deeper and more complex issues driving events like Littleton remain, by most estimates, almost beyond remedy. In the short run, at least, those who hope for a transformation of human nature surely hope in vain. Those who hope for a shift toward a kinder, gentler culture are only marginally more realistic. Those who think that bringing prayer into school classrooms will turn the tide are sure to be met by strong resistance from those who believe such activity violates the separation of church and state. Those who say that mandating official uniforms in all public schools will reduce hostilities between in- and out-groups of students may at least get a chance to test their theory -- Colorado's governor Bill Owens, for one, is on record as favoring the idea. As we rush toward the millennium, stress and uncertainty seem inescapable. Fantasy violence on TV is matched by the authentic violence of bombs over Serbia. Many young people look with disdain upon an adult culture that seems largely confused and self-absorbed, lacking purpose or moral foundation. In this environment, replays of Littleton are likely only a matter of time.
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