Columbine High School Shooting Research Paper

Columbine Gun violence was a prevalent problem in America long before the late 1990s, but the Columbine High School Massacre was the first time so many lives were taken in a school setting on national television. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold’s attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, saw more deaths than any prior school shooting. The devastation of the Columbine shooting served as a warning to some and a blueprint for others. Unfortunately, the attempt at new safety measures put in place following the incident was not enough to prevent further tragedy. The steep increase in firearm related violence from the late 1980s to the early 1990s led to a variety of changes to gun control policies. Gun violence in this time period peaked in 1993, but in the late 1990s started …show more content…
He held a ceremony along with Columbine students to press for stricter gun laws. Despite their efforts, no changes were made above the state level for another eight years (“Gun Control”). While some were hesitant to make changes in light of the attack, others were not. The Columbine Effect is used to refer to the admiration and desire for imitation of the Columbine attack felt by some. The Columbine Shooting gave others an example of a successful act of violence that granted the subjects fame and revenge. Some saw it as a mystical event and viewed Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as idols. It inspired over eighty copycat attacks. Alvaro Castillo documented his visit to Columbine High School and his admiration of Farris and Klebold seven years after the shooting. He later attacked Orange High School in an attempt to imitate it (FBI, “Echoes”). Klebold and Harris incited tragedies in their attack as well as in the numerous replications of it that would follow. The prevention measures taken were not enough to effectively counteract the rise in violence as was done in the early 1990s. If such tragedies are to be prevented in the future, more aggressive measures need to be

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