Weapons Of Mass Destruction

At 11:10 am on Tuesday, April 20 1999, Eric David Harris (18) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (17) arrived at their school – Columbine High School. Harris parked in the junior student parking lot and Klebold in the senior student parking lot at spaces not assigned to them. From then they went in a shooting spree across the campus – terrorizing and killing 15 and injuring another 24 before committing suicide. The amount of weapons and ammunition these two teens carried would have put Arnold’s Terminator to shame. They had Intratec TEC-DC9, Hi-Point 995 Carbine, Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, Stevens 311D double barreled sawed-off shotgun and bombs made with carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles. Their initial plan was to detonate bombs in cafeteria and shoot at those kids who would be fleeing once the bombs went off. Their initial plans were changed once the bombs didn’t go off. Then they ran shooting all those who came infront of them. A detailed description of the massacre could be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre.

What prompted these kids to such a violent act was debated heavily in media all over the world. The massacre also provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at Goth culture, social pariahs, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use, and violent video games.

But what really worrying is the amount and type of weapons and ammunition these kids got hold of. As Harris and Klebold were both underage at the time, Robyn Anderson, an 18-year-old Columbine student and old friend of Dylan Klebold's, made a straw purchase of two shotguns and Hi-Point 995 Carbine for Harris and Klebold. Two men named Mark Manes and Philip Duran were found to have supplied a TEC-DC9 semi-automatic handgun to the two boys. It has been estimated that had any of the bombs placed in the cafeteria actually detonated properly, the blast could have caused extensive structural damage to the school and resulted in up to 250 casualties. It is also worrying the delay that the law enforcement authorities took, if some of them were a little brave to put their life in the line of fire, the death toll would not have been this big.

If we examine carefully, this incident and similar incidents which preceded and succeeded this one (till Virginia Tech Massacre) – one thing is very clear that the easy accessibility to arms is one reason these massacre took place. The list of school shooting all over the world is following:

United States

* University of Texas at Austin massacre - Austin, Texas, United States; August 1, 1966

* Orangeburg Massacre - Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States; February 8, 1968

* Kent State shootings - Kent, Ohio, United States; May 4, 1970

* Jackson State killings - Jackson, Mississippi, United States; May 14-15, 1970

* California State University, Fullerton Library Massacre - Fullerton, California, United States; July 12, 1976

* Brenda Ann Spencer, Cleveland Elementary School - January 29, 1979

* Parkway South Junior High School shooting - Saint Louis, Missouri, United States; January 20, 1983

* Stockton massacre - Stockton, California, United States; January 17, 1989

* University of Iowa shooting - Iowa City, Iowa, United States; November 1, 1991

* Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting - Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States; December 14, 1992

* O. Henry Middle School shooting - Austin, Texas, United States; February 5, 1995.

* Richland High School shooting - Lynnville, Tennessee, United States; November 15, 1995.

* Frontier Junior High shooting - Moses Lake, Washington, United States; February 2, 1996

* Pearl High School shooting, Pearl, Mississippi, United States; October 1, 1997

* Heath High School shooting, West Paducah, Kentucky, United States; December 1, 1997

* Jonesboro massacre - Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States; March 24, 1998

* Thurston High School shooting - Springfield, Oregon, United States; May 21, 1998

* Columbine High School massacre - Littleton, Colorado, United States; April 20, 1999

* Heritage High School shooting - Conyers, Georgia, United States; May 20, 1999

* Santana High School - Santee, California, United States; March 5, 2001

* Appalachian School of Law shooting - Grundy, Virginia, United States; January 16, 2002

* Rocori High School shootings - Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States; September 24, 2003

* Red Lake High School massacre - Red Lake, Minnesota, United States; March 21, 2005

* Campbell County High School - Jacksboro, Tennessee: November 8, 2005

* Platte Canyon High School shooting - Bailey, Colorado, United States; September 27, 2006

* Amish school shooting - Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States; October 2, 2006

* Weston High School shooting, Cazenovia, Wisconsin September 29, 2006

* Henry Foss High School - Tacoma, Washington, United States January 3, 2007

* Virginia Tech massacre - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States; April 16, 2007

Canada

* Brampton Centennial Secondary School, Ontario, Canada - May, 1975

* École Polytechnique Massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; December 6, 1989

* Concordia University massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; August 24, 1992

* W. R. Myers High School shooting - Taber, Alberta, Canada; April 28, 1999

* Dawson College shooting - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; September 13, 2006

* C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute shooting - Toronto, Ontario, Canada; May 23, 2007

Israel

* Ma'alot massacre - Ma'alot, Israel; May 15, 1974

* Avivim school bus attacks - Avivim, Israel; May 8, 1970

Other countries

* Dunblane massacre - Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom; March 13, 1996

* Sanaa massacre - Sanaa, Yemen; March 30, 1997

* Erfurt massacre - Erfurt, Germany; April 26, 2002

* Monash University shooting - Melbourne, Australia; October 21, 2002

* Beirut Arab University shooting - Beirut, Lebanon; January 25, 2007

In most of these incidents, the perpetrator would have committed the crime with a weapon of his parents or close relatives. In most of the case the reaction is more of an impulsive manner than a planned manner (except in cases like Columbine Massacre, Port Arthur Massacre, Virginia tech etc). Unfortunately the life being lost in the planned massacre is very huge. It may be a rage over something for some time which acts as a catalyst here. The easy access to weapons increases the aggression many fold. I still remember some thing my late grandfather told me. He always advised us not to carry any king of weapons with us, however small it might be. His theory was that when you get into a scuffle with someone, there is a high chance that you might use those. Its not that you planned or thought about doing, but it just happens. One thing which is common is the ordeal through which the victims and their families that go through. This doesn’t change. Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_%28Australia%29 to read about the Port Arthur Massacre. This will give a picture of the pains the victims have to go through. My belief is that the easy availability of the weapons and the loneliness or bullying they have to face both is reason for these massacres. The idea of strict Gun control measure is the one way out of the problem. I don’t understand the logic on which people have to arm themselves. How can it be justified when the police force in most European and North American agencies are very efficient? Like some lyrics said “How can you hold a Gun and call you innocent?” How can you still cry for the victim when you are not doing anything to prevent it? In most places the reaction to these incidents are the same – “Everyone cried for better gun control and ban for some time” and after that everything subdued. Like the saying “People have a very short memory” these all incidents have slowly faded from our memory and will be awaken again when it’s going to repeat again. Then also every one of us will debate and then we will forget. We will not react unless tragedy strike us in the form of beloved ones, then it might be too late. Can’t we give our children a future where they are safe at least to go to school.

Until and unless we get up and do some thing, we can look for the next red rose to be placed in the memory of the next victim of another massacre, with a small prayer –“God, Don’t put me on the victim list”. A-bomb in Japan killed more than 200,000, but small arms kills more than 500,000 a year. When can we get rid of them? Stopping my article with a call for universal Gun banning (at least ban it from civilians) and in memories of hundreds of victims of school and campus massacre, especially in the memories of these two beautiful kids – Madeline Mikac and Alannah Mikac.Look at their innocent faces.

http://www.amf.org.au/