Columbiners. Działalność Serial Killer Fandom w środowisku True Crime Community

Eric Harris i Dylan Klebold są odpowiedzialni za jedną z największych masowych strzelanin szkolnych w USA, znanej jako masakra w Columbine High School. Wydarzenie to zaowocowało ogólnokrajową paniką moralną skupioną wokół reprezentacji przemocy w grach komputerowych, muzyce i filmie. Nastoletni mordercy współcześnie posiadają rzeszę aktywnych internetowych fanek, a sam fandom określa siebie jako Columbiners. Fandom ten jest osobliwą podgrupą True Crime Community, czyli większej społeczności zainteresowanej kryminologią i psychologią przestępców. Adoracja masowych i seryjnych morderców, szczególnie przez kobiety, nie jest nowym fenomenem. Zjawisko to starano się tłumaczyć parafilią oraz wyjaśnieniami ewolucyjnymi, jednak fanki sprawców masakry w Columbine High School zdają się wymykać tym uzasadnieniom. W niniejszym artykule pokazano na przykładzie fandomu Columbiners, że fascynacja mordercami może objawiać się nie tylko w formie ich seksualizacji, ale także poprzez empatyzowanie i utożsamianie się z osobami zbrodniarzy na bazie daleko posuniętych rekontestualizacji ich wizerunków w przestrzeni cyfrowej.

Correlates of the Number Shot and Killed in Active Shooter Events

Active shooter events have captured the public’s attention since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Although there has been research on various aspects of these events, only a single study has attempted to identify factors that are related to the number of people injured or killed in these events. This study was limited in that it only considered the presence or absence of a semi-automatic rifle. This paper expands on the existing research by examining several other factors that may impact the total number of people shot or killed during active shooter events.

The Surprising Advance of Gun Control Politics after Parkland

The 1999 Columbine high school massacre marked the start of an era of recurrent US mass shootings in settings once considered safe. In the aftermath of each horrific event, gun safety advocates tried to persuade state and national politicians to adopt new regulations but with little success—until recently. This chapter compares the political aftereffects of six major mass shootings to illuminate why the 2018 Parkland high school shooting led to more political change in favor of gun regulations than the previous events. Despite an unfavorable partisan climate, the Parkland shooting spurred teenage activists adept with social media tools to take advantage of the political opportunity structure created by prior grassroots resistance organizing. In response, politicians—especially Democrats—have embraced the gun safety cause as never before.

School Mass Shootings in America

The killings at Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 are four dire examples of mass shootings in school settings by current or former students in the U.S. Schools—K-12 and college campuses—which have long been considered a sacred place for our children and young people receiving education. According to the data collected by the author, since 1999, school mass shootings (SMS) have increased steadily, causing higher casualty with more powerful weapons and planned schemes. School and campus security have become significant concerns. One big question to all Americans is, are our schools really safe enough to send our children to in order to learn and grow? This article presents preliminary research findings of SMS incidents based on 71 cases with the discussion.

Introduction to Special Issue: The Legacy of Columbine—Implications for Policy After 20 Years

This introduction provides an overview to the special issue, which marks the twentieth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School by considering the effect on policy addressing school violence and mass shootings. We asked each of the contributors to consider changes in their area of interest over the past two decades as well as future research and policy issues. The resulting five contributions take various forms: three are traditional scholarly articles, one is a personal commentary, and one is an afterword that combines a scholarly format with professional reflection. In our introduction, we summarize each one. As each article identifies the need for continued work in this area, and we conclude by providing a few examples of this research.

The Evolution of Active Shooter Response Training Protocols Since Columbine: Lessons From the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center

On April 20, 1999, two active shooters attacked Columbine High School. This attack became a catalyst that changed the manner in which law enforcement prepared for similar attacks at schools and other locations. Departments across the United States developed and adopted active shooter response training protocols. To assist law enforcement with this work, training centers were created including the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center. ALERRT was formed in 2002 and was named the national standard in active shooter training by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2013. To date, ALERRT has trained more than 130,000 first responders from over 9,000 agencies in active shooter response. This commentary leverages our extensive expertise as directors of ALERRT. Specifically, we discuss how training protocols have evolved over the last two decades to include active shooter response teams, solo officer response, medical intervention training, integrated response training, and civilian response.

Afterword: The Columbine Effect on Culture, Policy, and Me

This afterword considers the cultural effect of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. I bring together the aspects of a traditional academic review with my personal reflections as a scholar who spent the past two decades researching its cultural and policy ramifications. Columbine is a noted milestone in the American cultural lexicon, and one that has become an important reference point for discussions of school violence and other social problems concerning youth. Columbine often serves as an inaccurate exemplar of the broader problem of youth violence, and this so-called “Columbine Effect” means that extreme cases exert a disproportionately strong influence on public discourse about the problem. Over the past 20 years, the net effect has been the acceleration of punitive anti-violence school policies that include policing, surveillance, and zero-tolerance policies. I consider my experience as a researcher in this area and conclude with modest suggestions for guiding policy development to mitigate the problem of violence in schools.