Columbine Shooting Case Study

Background:
In the small town of Littleton, Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School on Tuesday, April 20th, 1999 prepared to unleash havoc on the masses of the school. The two students had formulated a plan months before April 20th, part of the plan consisted of assembling bombs that were designed to destroy the cafeteria and the library. Furthermore, Harris and Klebold both took note of the amount of students that were inside the cafeteria at each time of the day so the bomb could be set off at a time with the utmost students in the cafeteria thus leading to the maximum amount of casualties. In addition to the bomb arrangement, Harris and Klebold both purchased various guns and spent an extensive amount of time out in the wilderness filming each other practice their aim as preparation for the big day. On April 20th, Harris and Klebold dressed up in long, black trenchcoats and arrived at Columbine High School with an arsenal of various guns and homemade bombs.
The two gunmen were planning to detonate the bomb and then shoot fleeing students. Fortunately, the bombs did not detonate at the set time; however, Harris and Klebold decided to continue with their plan. At around 11:20am they began to open fire on students, faculty and the building itself. Moreover, Harris and Klebold continued devastating the school by throwing homemade pipe bombs and smoke bombs. In an interview on the Cable News Network, a young woman said “Everyone around me got shot and I begged him for 10 minutes not to shoot me.” Harris and Klebold were clearly in a position of power throughout the shooting, especially with the police receiving little to no information about the gunmen thus leading to their decision to stay outside until more information was provided. At 12:08pm, the gunmen were dead - however, instead of being shot and killed by policemen or the SWAT team that arrived afterward, Harris and Klebold committed suicide, before any authorities entered. Harris and Klebold justified their actions by a collection of reasons.
It is speculated that their situation in high school as bullied social outcasts, being enthralled by Goth culture, and being influenced by violent video games and music were prime reasons. Harris displayed his justification and his hatred of humanity through his journal, one of the entries being: “Everyone is always making fun of me because of how I look, how fucking weak I am, and shit, well I will get you all back: ultimate fucking revenge here.” In addition, the Columbine High School Shooting occurred on Adolf Hitler’s birthday and one day after the anniversary of the Waco disaster (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), all of which led to an enormous amount of destruction. Harris and Klebold specifically choose the day they would execute their plan and commit this mass murder; they wanted to do something bigger than those disasters, they were attention-seeking, vindictive and ruthless
teenagers.
CBS News, two years later, decided to investigate the situation further and with closer inspection, there was information that by the time Klebold and Harris committed suicide at 12:08pm, there were about 75 police officers idle outside and the SWAT team had just entered school building. The ineffectiveness of the police in this situation cost the lives of heroes such as Dave Sanders, a teacher that had been shot while running around warning students to evacuate.
The Columbine High School Shooting resulted in 33 casualties, 13 dead and 20 injured.The controversial topic of gun control and school safety intensified through the following years. School safety was emphasized - new regulations were established and were stricter than ever. The shooting highlighted the issue of gun control as it is “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” and that right should not be violated by the government according to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. However, with the right to keep and bear arms,