Causes Of School Shootings

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were two teenagers from Columbine, Colorado who are identified as school shooters. This incident is famously known, although prior school shootings exist. Eric and Dylan were introverts, antisocial, and bullied by the jocks. The boys decided they wanted to get revenge for all the bullying they encountered. Williams gave the exact death number: 12 classmates, one teacher, and the boys committing suicide (2008, p. 227). In total 15 people died that day, horribly, this event is not considered the top 10 for mass shooting. The media focused on the frenzy of what the boys had done and not what caused it. It’s possible to debate that Columbine sparked motivation for school shootings that followed. Since 1999, hundreds

Anderson notes “The shooters were students who habitually played violent video games...enjoyed playing the bloody video game Dome” (Anderson, p. 353). In this century there has been evidence linking violent video games to increased aggressive behavior in children. The boys also loved the video game so much Eric recreated it; in Anderson’s article he noted, “Harris created a customized version of Doom with two shooters, extra weapons, unlimited ammunition, and victims who could not fight back” (2001, p. 353). Their love for Doom was stimulation and practice for the actual shooting. “Another article by Also the background and family dynamic Dylan had also could have been a factor for him, but not Eric because his family was described as ideal by

3). The boys did not wake up and this impulsively, this was something they put a lot of time into. The bombs did not go off as planned and that is when the boys turned to shooting. The boys only had athletes on their agenda, when they entered the library according to Larkin the boys yelled “Get up! All athletes stand up” (2007, p. 7). All of their actions and the bomb failure was disorganized and impulsive which lead to their death. In the end the boys died attempting to obtain revenge for what they thought they deserved from peers. Situations like this are hard to sympathize with the terrorists; however some sympathy should be present for their