22 Years of Columbine: The Trauma That Won’t Go Away in the US

The morning of April 20, 1999 it took place like any other in a quiet Colorado community in the United States. Until everything changed that afternoon.

Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, arrived in separate vehicles at Columbine High School. They entered the cafeteria where they left duffel bags with bombs that would detonate at 11:17 am.

They returned to their cars and waited for the bombs to detonate, but they did not detonate. Harris and Klebold returned to the school at 11:20 AM, where they shot and killed two students sitting outside. Rachel Scott died instantly. Richard Castaldo was shot eight times and was paralyzed from the chest.

Then they went to the library and started shooting at the students. There, they murdered 10 students and injured 12 others. When they left, they wandered through other parts of the school. They met three students on the stairs, shot them. One died.

They exchanged shots with the police several times, but no one was injured.

They returned to the cafeteria and then returned to the library where they both committed suicide.

During the ordeal, which lasted approximately 49 minutes, Harris and Klebold fired 188 rounds. They had 99 explosives, four pistols and four knives. Harris fired 96 times with his carbine and 25 times with his shotgun. Klebold fired a shotgun 55 times and fired 12 shots with a double-barreled shotgun.

The massacre claimed the lives of 13 people, 12 students and a teacher, was killed randomly and left more than 20 injured.

According to officials, Harris and Klebold had planned the attack for more than a year and wrote the details in their personal diaries, which further documented that they wanted their actions to rival the Oklahoma City bombing, in retaliation for the Waco massacre and others. deadly incidents that occurred in the United States in the 1990s.

The victims were: Isaiah E. Shoels and Lauren D. Townsend, 18; Cassie R. Bernall, Corey T. DePooter and Rachel J. Scott, 17; Kelly A. Fleming, Matthew J. Kechter, John R. Tomlin and Kyle A. Velasquez, 16; Daniel C. Mauser and Daniel L. Rohrbough, 15; Steven R. Curnow, 14 and Coach William “Dave” Sanders, 47.

The event is known worldwide as the Columbine Massacre. It is the worst school building massacre in the United States to this day.

THE DEBATE

The terrible event in Columbine sparked a debate about gun control laws, subcultures and bullying.

Americans own 48% of the 650 million weapons in the hands of civilians in the world. And they are the population that has the most guns for every 100 inhabitants.

Over the years, some safety precautions have been taken in schools: lockdown exercises and the installation of metal detectors.

In February 2017, then US President Donald Trump dropped a law promoted by his predecessor, Barack Obama, that banned the sale of firearms to people with severe mental illness.

On the other hand, Donald Trump’s administration banned the use of bump stocks, semi-automatic weapon-making devices can fire much faster bursts, such as machine guns, and some tweaks have been made to the databases for background checking for gun store purchases.

But many wonder, why is it so difficult to ban guns in the US?

There are several answers to this important question.

On the one hand, the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the interest groups most influential in American politics, not only because of the money it spends on lobbying politicians, but also because of the level of commitment of its five million members, they oppose most proposals to strengthen firearms regulations and stand behind the efforts federal and state level to undo many existing gun control restrictions.

On the other hand, possession of weapons is a constitutional right. The Second amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America protects the right of the American people to owning and carrying weapons. For this reason, it is extremely easy to access a weapon. They are sold in supermarkets, specialty stores and even banks.

Many Americans do not want to lose this right and are therefore strongly opposed to any kind of purchase ban.

THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC REPERCUSSIONS

The massacre inspired dozens of documentaries and films, including director Gus van Sant’s elephant, who won the Golden Palm at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

There were other artists affected by the shooting, which opened deep wounds in American society, such as filmmaker Michael Moore. In his documentary,“Bowling for Columbine”, who won the Oscar from the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2002, Moore makes his case for gun control in the United States. But he also deeply criticizes the society of that country. “Why are we (Americans) like this?”

It also explores the fact that several media outlets at the time blamed singer Marilyn Manson for the massacre.

Others also wanted to investigate the Littleton tragedy, such as journalist David Cullen who wrote the book “Columbine: The True Story of Crime,” in which he analyzes the personality of the attackers. “Eric killed for two reasons: to show and enjoy his superiority,” said Cullen, according to an article published a decade ago by the US newspaper The Christian Science Monitor.

Some of the school shootings since Columbine include: Red Lake Senior High School (March 21, 2005 – 7 deaths); West Nickle Mines (October 2, 2006 – 5 deaths); Virginia Tech (April 16, 2007 – 32 deaths); Northern Illinois University (February 14, 2008 – 5 deaths); Oikos University (April 2, 2012 – 7 deaths); Sandy Hook Elementary School (December 14, 2012 – 26 deaths); Marysville Pilchuck High School (October 24, 2014 – 4 deaths); Umpqua Community College (Oct 1, 2105 – 9 deaths); Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (February 14, 2018 – 17 deaths) and Sante Fe High School (May 18, 2018 – 10 deaths).

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