Echoes of Columbine

Victims of the University of Iowa shooting Date: November 1 Year: 1991 School: University of Iowa Location:  Iowa city State: Iowa Wounded: 1 Fatalities:  6 Shots Fired: Unknown Time lapsed: 12 minutes Police response time: 3 minutes How ended: Suicide. Shooter was found dead from self inflicted gunshot wound.  Civilians involved:  None known, shooter committed suicide shortly after police arrived. Perpetrator:  Gang Lu Age: 28 Family history:  Unknown. Red flags: Yes. Mental illness history: Unknown. Drug or medication use: Unknown. Inspiration: Unknown. In a suicide statement , he discussed his favorite movies, which he said included: "'No Way Out,' 'Die Hard,' 'Indiana Jones,' and Clint Eastwood’s movies where a single cowboy fights against a group of incorporated bad guys who pick on little guys at their will or cover up each other’s ass."  Just a guess of course, but he seemed to seek out mo

It is troubling that many of the solutions to mass shootings choose to focus on arming people to stop the shooter, or preventing the shooter from getting to people once they are already firing their weapon. As of February 2018, the vast majority ( 90% - Quinnipac , ) of Americans are in favor of background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of mentally ill people with violent potential. It is a simple, common sense suggestion, but how do we determine who has violent potential and who doesn't before they actually at on their urges? Mental illness is a very broad category. Suffering from depression does not make one a danger to society, and having a personality disorder does not equal violent intent by any means. In 1966, the Texas University shooter had seen a psychiatrist, and reported feelings of rage and a desire to harm people. No actions were taken to evaluate him, or prevent him from harming others. Often so subtle or inconclusive the red flags were overlooked

The Cult of Columbine now dictates that the crimes be more shocking and the body counts be higher with each attempt. Including explosives. Ways to carry more ammo. Ways to prevent people from escaping. Though they usually worked alone, sometimes in pairs, they all worked towards a singular goal. Destruction of our society from within. They wanted to make us hurt, this much is true but more than they they wanted that hurt to be known, and impossible to forget. Mass shooters are all copy cats now, carbon copies of carbon copies. The goal of mass shootings isn't just to kill people. Mass shooters are often suicidal as well as homicidal. They have usually already decided to end their own lives through suicide by cop. If death was their eventual goal, why did they feel the need to create such a spectacle around it? Part of that power they are looking for comes from the media attention. The attention previous crimes have gathered is usually part of their overall plan. If they jus

A little less publicized about mass shootings is the fact that nearly all of these school shooters were on psychiatric medications now known to aggravate violent behaviors. At some point these drugs were prescribed, and often changed somewhere near the shooting (Red Lake, Columbine, New Life Church) but for some reason their medical providers were only treating the symptoms. While the dangers of antidepressants and other mood altering drugs are known, they are still being prescribed without the necessary psychiatric follow-up. Medication is far cheaper than therapy, and easier too. In 2003 doctors were warned not to give most common antidepressants to under 18s, because of fears that the risks outweighed the benefits. In 2004 the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory warning that “anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia [severe restlessness], hypomania [abnormal excitement] and mania [psychosis characterized by exalted feelings,

There is only one single ingredient that every mass shooting has had in common, the gun. This is also the one topic guaranteed to bring out the highest emotions. Mass shootings are not uniquely American, but 31% of the worlds mass shootings take place in America, while accounting for only 5% of the worlds population. America is a gun culture, there is no debating that fact. 320 million Americans own around 350 million guns. The United States can now arm nearly every man, woman and child from shore to shore and still have guns left over. With numbers like that it might seem that every American owns a gun, but only about 40% of the population owns guns. while 3% of the country owns one half of all of the guns. By far the most common guns used in massacres are those that can do the most damage in the least amount of time. Semi-automatic handguns are the chosen weapon in over 70% of mass shootings. Semi-automatic rifles are a second choice, followed by shotguns and then revolvers.

If a part of the fantasy was the sheer violence they fed on, another factor was the hero worship. They didn't want to just go out, they wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. If they were nobodies who wanted to become somebodies, the fastest way to do so was to do something so shocking that the media could not ignore it. The media in their own way, turned them into heroes. When one reads these books, watches these movies, or listens to the music that inspired mass shooters, one strong theme runs through all of them. In each case the hero of the is the killer, students cheer them, crowds gather to spur them on, and the media worships them. While I was researching I was appalled at the sheer number of tributes there were not to the victims, but to the shooters. A quick tour of Youtube reveals that for many, these mass shooters kids were not perpetrators but victims. The media in most cases played right into it. While it was happening, and then for weeks after, the media hand f