When it comes to mass murder, April 20th is a day of infamy. On that day 25 years ago, two teenagers shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, becoming perhaps the most notorious school shooter in American history.
The 1999 Columbine massacre was neither the first nor the deadliest school shooting in our nation’s history, but it was by far the worst in terms of its impact on school policy, public attitudes, and popular culture. It’s important.
This terrifying drama was broadcast live for the first time. Audio recordings of the two attackers planning and practicing their attack have been released. Unfortunately, Columbine video games, T-shirts, and other cultural artifacts gave the two shooters the celebrity status they sought.
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris fully expected to gain fame and notoriety. As one of the attackers predicted in the so-called Columbine basement tapes, “We’re so (expletive) god-like that we know we’re going to have followers.” And their The influence has continued ever since, with more than 100 copycats carrying out or attempting similar attacks in schools across the country.
The Columbine effect is far more widespread than occasional copycat acts. It includes how schools have been transformed from a safety perspective and the widespread perception among students and their parents that schools are not safe.
Columbine sparked school lockdown drills
In the aftermath of Columbine, parents began buying bulletproof backpacks for their children. And schools have begun implementing lockdown drills of questionable value but in an attempt at realism to unnerve impressionable children.
Columbine may have been the catalyst for widespread panic, but various data reports served to strengthen and heighten the sense of crisis.
For example, the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 school shooting database suggests that the number of incidents has increased exponentially, reaching nearly 1,000 since 2021. Importantly, the definition of school shooting used in this database is very broad. If a gun is fired, brandished, or a bullet hits school property, regardless of the number of victims (including zero), time, day, or reason. ”
As a professor of criminology, I analyzed K-12 school shooting data over the past three years and found that nearly 90% of shootings occurred in parking lots, playgrounds, or school buses rather than inside the school itself. is shown to have occurred. , no lockdown drills or metal detectors involved.
Calculating school shootings:As students return to school, should parents worry about mass shootings? Mathematically, the answer is no.
Of course, in the face of these statistics, frightened parents will think about the threat of a Columbine-style massacre. However, the overwhelming majority of incidents have little to do with the safety of children at school.
The fears of students and their parents center on an active shooter, whether a student or an outsider, roaming the hallways with a deadly weapon.
My review of FBI documents shows that since Columbine, there have been 50 attacks of a particular type that resulted in injury or death to victims, an average of two per year. Of course, this is out of about 130,000 schools in the United States.
Congress has ignored gun violence.Hear from the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Understandably, our responses to school shootings, such as requiring students to participate in active shooter drills, arming teachers, and installing safety equipment, do not actually is not commensurate with the risks.
These actions signal to students that they have a target on their backs, increasing fear rather than alleviating it.
The threat of school shootings requires context
While a few students may admire the Columbine shooters and decide to follow their lead, downplaying the threat of school shootings may reduce not only the risk but also the fear. History suggests that.
From 1996 to 2001, there were eight deadly school shootings in the United States, and in March 2001, newspaper reporter Dan Rather declared school shootings a national epidemic. But for the next four years, nothing happened.
When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred, Americans’ attention and concern turned away from school shootings and squarely toward other threats to their safety.
I’m not saying we should invite tragedies to distract from school shootings, just that we should put the risks in their proper perspective. Schools are certainly safe. Children are safer at school than outside because of the structure and supervision provided.
James Alan Fox is Lippman Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern University. Author of Violence and Safety on Campus: From Kindergarten to College.
