Argumentative Essay: The Columbine High School Shooting

On April 20, 1999 every American life was changed forever as the news broke of what would come to be known as the Columbine High School Massacre. Immediately reporters and psychologists alike began to ask the question; why? What could cause Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, eighteen and seventeen respectively, to go off the deep end and commit one of the worst mass shootings in history? Both seniors had less than two months left in their high school career, why would they choose to commit this crime instead of graduating, moving on with their lives, and leaving their classmates to do the same? Although there were two clear killers at Columbine what many people don’t know is the theory that Eric Harris was the true mastermind behind the plan. “To understand Columbine, we have to understand Eric Harris, “(Langman, 2009). Many people who knew the boys say that Dylan Klebold was a follower of Eric Harris and that he would have never constructed a plan like this on his own (“Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold The killers of 13 students and a teacher at Columbine High School – Littleton, Colorado”). Regardless of whether Dylan followed Eric or if he had his own reasons for murder, it is clear that Eric was the one with deep rooted psychological issues. However this makes Dylan Klebold harder to understand, was he a follower or just good at hiding his emotional turmoil? Why did Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold commit one of the most well-known school shootings and what effect has it had

Police, teachers, principals, state senators, and many others claim it’s not bullying that causes these mind numbing numbers of suicides and school shootings. They truly believe it is mental illness, depression, anger, and PTSD that causes the overwhelming number of suicides and shootings. What they fail to comprehend is that those are side effects as a result of being bullied.

The concept of bullying in the school system has been linked to many homicides and

A method of preventing school shootings would be to acknowledge risk factors that the student is facing. For example, bullying is a risk factor for school shootings. In a research study done in 2001 of 37 school shootings, it was reported that 75% of the school shooters felt bullied, threatened, or injured by others in which most of the shooters in the report had experienced long-term bullying and harassment from their peers (Duplechain & Morris, 2014). In addition, the authors do state: “School personnel too often accept that children get teased and bullied every day, because teachers, parents, students, and other adults have grown up thinking that bullying is a normal part of school life. It has easily become an accepted part of today’s school culture” (Ibid, 2014). The authors believe that schools view bullying as something that students should get used to. This does show how bullying is an issue in schools. It is not solely to blame in regards to school shootings, but is a risk factor for them.

As the world recovers from recent school shootings, people wondered why these events have occurred. They are focused on drug use, violent society, video games, bullying, and mental issues to try and explain an unexplainable event. The idea that a person would shoot others for little or no reason gave little relief to the survivors.

Bullying is a serious problem with the potential of lasting effects. The two boys were planning an attack on the bullies that had made school miserable for them. “they were members of a group of social outcasts called the Trenchcoat Mafia that was fascinated by Goth culture.”( History.com Staff. "Columbine High School Shootings." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.) Klebold and Harris initially carried out the shooting as a retaliation for the miserable years in

The link between school violence and bullying has increased in attraction exponentially after the Columbine shooting. “The shooters were classified as gifted children who had allegedly been victims of bullying for four years.” Many of those who are close to them regarded them as “the losers of the losers (Ball)”. Klebold has also made remarks to his father about his hatred toward the jock culture in his high school. He added that Harris had been victimized by the jocks by stating to his father “They sure give Eric hell.” There is no doubt this helped drive them to the decision they made.

More mass shooting in America are more common now than they have ever been before. The columbine shooting is the biggest school shooting in history. It was on April 20, 1999 when this devastating event happened. One of the things that made the shooting memorable is that the shooters shot Christians. The columbine shooting was an awful event. Twelve students and one teacher were killed.

Have you ever wondered why someone would pick up a gun and point it at a classmate, a family member, or yet, a child's innocent face. These questions haunted me after I got a message from a friend saying there might be a school shooting tomorrow . I have always known my school to be a safe place, and such news frightened me. A few hours later I got a message from the same friend. This time, she said “the news was a rumor". Even though I was comforted by knowing it was a rumor, I wanted to have a wider understanding of such incidents. After reading a few article I saw a trend, Every Time a school shooting or any mass shooting happens in general, guns become the main topic throughout the nation, and the country gets divided into pro-guns and anti-guns. This event of polarization would continue until the next shooting where people get and more polarized rather than focusing on the issue. But we have to recognize this, what we need to solve is not just what method the shooter used, but the events leading to that decision.

To some, being bullied is not a big deal; but to others (such as the monster and many mass shooters) being bullied affects their outlook on the world. To bully, according to Miriam Webster Dictionary, is “to frighten, hurt, or threaten (a smaller or weaker person): to act like a bully toward (someone): to cause (someone) to do something by making threats or insults or by using force” both the monster and many mass shooters have experienced high levels of bullying, which possibly led to the massacres. In particular, a well-known duo of boys became mass shooters after being continuously bullied by their classmates. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve people and injured 24 at Columbine High School. According to the New York Times, in an article comparing the different factors in mass suicidal shooters to terrorist “The

Not only is there physical bullying in today’s society, but there is cyber bullying which is through social media. People can say something or put a picture of somebody on the internet and it won’t really be removed because nothing on the internet is really removed, which enhances the tormenting. But how could bullying be a cause of school shooting? Well most people will feel as the whole world knows something about them they didn’t want the world to know about and then those people feel as they need to hurt the people who hurt them. When they think of their life being ruined, they either want to attack the ones who laughed at them or just hurt themselves. However, studies have shown that there has been a 31% decrease in bullying as of 2015. If schools start teaching classes on what bullying can cause, then we can see a future of not only less bullying but less school

Columbine. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook. Pulse Nightclub. Last Vegas. Parkland, Florida. These are just a few of the 150 mass shootings that have taken place in the last 50 years. That’s an average of three shootings per year. If you ask me even one mass shooting is too many, but this is the tragic reality we live in. When something like this occurs, it sparks two arguments that seem to foolishly rival each other. Many demand that people take mental health more seriously. Others call for stricter gun control. My concern is why does it have to be one or the other? Why are these considered mutually exclusive? Mental health and gun violence are huge issues that the media seems to pit against each other as if we can only fix

Unfortunately, school shootings and threats have become more common throughout the past 18 years. One of the first major school shootings that brought attention to gun violence in America was the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. According to the U.S. History website state that two teens, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree throughout the school. After killing 12 students and one teacher, the boys then killed themselves. During the investigation on the boys motives, investigators came to the conclusion that most likely the shooting was connected to bullying because the boys were members of social outcast groups, and violence in video games. It is unfortunate that bullying may have been the cause of this awful event in history, but it is even more upsetting that school shootings like these, have happened again at an even worse

It is without a doubt that there has been an increase in violent crimes in schools throughout recent years. School shootings continue to become more and more common, especially in North America. Safety concerns for any and all students and staff in schools are at all all time high due to the high number of fatal and non-fatal occurring incidences. Since 2013 to the present, it is estimated that the United States has seen approximately 205 school shootings. Weekly, that is a shocking one shooting on average. Many of these shootings have resulted in the injuries and deaths of multiple of students and staff members. (Everytown Research, 2017) Evidently, school shootings are tragic events that affect so many more people than just the victims. However, these events are also interesting to look at from the psychological and sociological point of views. Through much research, it can be concluded that school shootings are a complex problem that are caused by a mix of improper brain development and societal and media influences which motivate school shooters to emerge. Psychological factors may include struggling with mental illnesses and/or abuse that leads to damaged brain development. Additionally, being bullied and/or the role of the media are examples of sociological factors.

Not only are bullied children anxious, depressed, and underachieving during the months and years of their torment, but even years later, they have lower self-esteem as well as painful memories. 7 The picture is somewhat different, but often more ominous, for bullies. Contrary to the public perception that bullies are actually insecure and lonely, at the peak of their bullying they usually have friends who abet, fear, and admire them, and they seem brashly unapologetic about the pain they have inflicted, as they often claim, "all in fun." But their popularity and school success fade over the years, and especially if they are boys, they run a high risk of ending up in prison. In one longitudinal study done by Olweus, by age 24, two-thirds of the boys who had been bullies in the second grade were convicted of at least one felony, and one- third of those who had been bullies in the sixth through the ninth grades were already convicted of three or more crimes, often violent ones. International research likewise finds that children who are allowed to regularly victimize other children are at high risk of becoming violent offenders as adolescents and adults. 8 Unfortunately, bullying during middle childhood seems to be universal: it occurs in every nation that has been studied, is as much a problem in small