Could Columbine Happen Today?

Sorry if this is a repeat of a topic, I tried to look around and didn't see much.
So this is one of my very favorite questions to ask people and kick off conversations with other researchers with. And that is, do you think Columbine could happen today? I know it's quite a morbid one, but it's honestly fascinating to think about in perspective to everything. Back then and now, and to see what really has changed since then and what has been affected because of the shooting.

Of course you can always throw around theories such as, "if it didn't happen in '99 what could happen if it happened today?" or "after happening in '99, could it happen again?"

Yes, there have been school shootings, but I mean an almost, if not exact copy of Columbine. Same plans, same bombs/weapons, everything. Maybe even a little alternation, but still about the same.
What do you think would happen and do you think it could succeed?
Would love to hear some perspectives on it.

Well I believe it could very well happen depending on the given situation, I heard about girls attempting to shoot their school because they were inspired by Eric and Dylan.
It's not frequent but you can't write it off, that's for sure.


_________________
"I know we're gonna have followers because we're so fucking God-like" - Dylan

Columbine could happen today but it would not be Columbine.

Yes it could happen. But there would be so many different things. Smart phones didn't exist back then for one thing. I think that alone would change a ton of things.

Youtube is also new. Imagine if 17 year old Eric had access to youtube?

Lizpuff wrote:

Yes it could happen.  But there would be so many different things.  Smart phones didn't exist back then for one thing.  I think that alone would change a ton of things.

Youtube is also new.  Imagine if 17 year old Eric had access to youtube?

He would have been on youtube spewing his hatred rather than writing it on a website. Columbine would be very different I agree, likely there would be more footage. I think the basement tapes would have likely been posted on YouTube as well since they wanted to world to see it, feel their rage. Alot of potential school shooters are getting caught now which is great, but Columbine could definitely happen today.

I usually ponder this topic around and go back and forth with myself, and more than often think another Columbine couldn't happen. A school shooting, yes. Another Columbine, no.
They've revised intruder and school shooter procedures so much and so often that I think that would be the large downfall to it happening again.
I know alone, I've counted 40 different cameras in my school with a front desk attendant there all day to watch the cameras. Every door is locked and only accessible with key cards. There is an administrator in every hallways, all hours of the day, including multiple during each lunch. I know it would be possible to work around those things, but you'd either need to be really involved in school or know people and I just don't think it could be possible for 2 people alone without anyone suspecting.
Plus, if you were able to get in and begin or some how get a bomb to go off. The teachers know what to do now. They wouldn't make their students hide under tables and the cops wait outside for 3 hours before going in. It's the same for many schools around the country. Kids also know the "quiet kid that's actually the school shooter" joke/stereotype so they're ready to go if shit hits the fan.
BUT. This is from the perspective of Columbine that had happened in '99. If Columbine happened for the first time now adays, everything would be completely different.

A recent example of a mass shooting on June 12 2016 where the cops did not neutralize the shooter quickly was the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.

It was over 3 hours after the initial shooting when the cops finally engaged him.

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Quite a long time for such a recent event with all the updated police procedures.

Law enforcement justifies this by saying that it took so long because it went from an active shooter situation to a barricaded hostage situation --- reminiscent of the same justification from Columbine.

lol here's the thing, it wouldn't be "another columbine". It would be a copy-cat. There is no columbine round 2, it would be its own school shooting so it doesn't really make sense how you keep saying that. Even if someone went out of there way to copy every single thing they did it wouldn't be genuine like it was for Eric and dylan, it would be a copy cat.

I think it could. However, I know in some larger schools, security measures against these types of things have been taken. The high school I went to though, much smaller, and nothing to deter something like this from happening.

thenight_watchman wrote:

I mean an almost, if not exact copy of Columbine. Same plans, same bombs/weapons, everything. Maybe even a little alternation, but still about the same. What do you think would happen and do you think it could succeed? Would love to hear some perspectives on it.

Good point about the copycat thing.

Whether it is perceived as a copycat crime or not it is without question that it could happen anytime.

Whether it succeeds or not depends on many factors related to the event in question.

ColumbineIsInterestingAF wrote:

lol here's the thing, it wouldn't be "another columbine". It would be a copy-cat. There is no columbine round 2, it would be its own school shooting so it doesn't really make sense how you keep saying that. Even if someone went out of there way to copy every single thing they did it wouldn't be genuine like it was for Eric and dylan, it would be a copy cat.

I completely understand what you're saying there. Yes, it in no way would be a second Columbine. I guess it's just easier to called it "another Columbine", but you're completely right though. It would be a copy-cat shooting.

(Deleted)

It could happen in the sense of two teenagers getting guns and jointly starting a spree killing.

The chances of police giving them all that time to go through the school shooting left and right? Most likely not gonna happen. Certainly not in US or Finland etc.

One thing police around the world learned from Columbine and Breivik is that a rapid deployment and entry is vital.

If you look at more recent shooting, the police enter the building in pursuit of the active shooter as soon as they arrive. Even if its one beat cop with a 9 mil handgun. Nobody is gonna wait for SWAT anymore.

They’d have to be more cautious and think through their plan more carefully.

And the shooting definitely wouldn’t get the same publicity, especially if the kill count is the same or lower. But depending on the attractiveness of the copycats, some (or many) Eric and Dylan’s fangirls might switch their focus like it happened after the Kerch and Suzano shootings.

I agree. Most schools now (especially in the US) are aware of the possibility of a shooting and so now can prevent a large amount of damage being caused.

I also think that their fame as "Vengative" and "rude" could have caught some fangirls attention. As it happened in his time. I think now the shooting would not have the same impact as they said, or it would be an impact of 1 or 2 weeks and the media in general would forget. I think because these days there are so many shootings that people lose interest. I personally did not lose it, but I am referring to the general public. So it may also be that there are fewer fangirls, admirers, etc ... as with suzano, or others I also feel that there would be more unreleased things, I could believe that they would not bring to light the 11-K and people would not have much interest in the basement tapes or see the reasons behind why it would be like "one more from the pile" and not like the one that "started everything" as it happens now.

margaflor wrote:

I also think that their fame as "Vengative" and "rude" could have caught some fangirls attention.  As it happened in his time.  I think now the shooting would not have the same impact as they said, or it would be an impact of 1 or 2 weeks and the media in general would forget.  I think because these days there are so many shootings that people lose interest.  I personally did not lose it, but I am referring to the general public.  So it may also be that there are fewer fangirls, admirers, etc ... as with suzano, or others I also feel that there would be more unreleased things, I could believe that they would not bring to light the 11-K and people would not have much interest  in the basement tapes or see the reasons behind why it would be like "one more from the pile" and not like the one that "started everything" as it happens now.

All good points.

For a shooting to capture media attention for some time, the shooter would need to be significant in some way. Probably align with whatever "hot button issue" is going on. I think if a shooter would prove to be a very avid anti-vaxxer now for example, then this could get a lot of media attention. Or a very prominent BLM activist.

Sabratha wrote:

margaflor wrote:

I also think that their fame as "Vengative" and "rude" could have caught some fangirls attention.  As it happened in his time.  I think now the shooting would not have the same impact as they said, or it would be an impact of 1 or 2 weeks and the media in general would forget.  I think because these days there are so many shootings that people lose interest.  I personally did not lose it, but I am referring to the general public.  So it may also be that there are fewer fangirls, admirers, etc ... as with suzano, or others I also feel that there would be more unreleased things, I could believe that they would not bring to light the 11-K and people would not have much interest  in the basement tapes or see the reasons behind why it would be like "one more from the pile" and not like the one that "started everything" as it happens now.

All good points.

For a shooting to capture media attention for some time, the shooter would need to be significant in some way. Probably align with whatever "hot button issue" is going on. I think if a shooter would prove to be a very avid anti-vaxxer now for example, then this could get a lot of media attention. Or a very prominent BLM activist.

Exactly, for a shooting to get the attention of the media, they have to get something out of the perpetrator. The curiosity to know his political party, sexuality, etc ... is impressive, for example, the news putting in his titles that Devon Erickson was gay or that Guilherme Taucci supported Bolsonaro, just to squeeze even a little that little interest that he has left the public, and as now these issues are more touched by people (not like in the 90s where being gothic or lgbt was something relatively "strange") it does not generate that morbid that they want to achieve. And when this happens they just drop the cases, no more news and no more information, just because people don't like it.

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Mr Bubbless wrote:

thenight_watchman wrote:

I usually ponder this topic around and go back and forth with myself, and more than often think another Columbine couldn't happen. A school shooting, yes. Another Columbine, no.
They've revised intruder and school shooter procedures so much and so often that I think that would be the large downfall to it happening again.
I know alone, I've counted 40 different cameras in my school with a front desk attendant there all day to watch the cameras. Every door is locked and only accessible with key cards. There is an administrator in every hallways, all hours of the day, including multiple during each lunch. I know it would be possible to work around those things, but you'd either need to be really involved in school or know people and I just don't think it could be possible for 2 people alone without anyone suspecting.
Plus, if you were able to get in and begin or some how get a bomb to go off. The teachers know what to do now. They wouldn't make their students hide under tables and the cops wait outside for 3 hours before going in. It's the same for many schools around the country. Kids also know the "quiet kid that's actually the school shooter" joke/stereotype so they're ready to go if shit hits the fan.
BUT. This is from the perspective of Columbine that had happened in '99. If Columbine happened for the first time now adays, everything would be completely different.

Maybe, but you also have to consider countries whose people ignorantly believe that something like columbine or any other tragedy would "never happen here" so they ignore many of these procedures. Take Norway for example, no one expected some guy to commit the deadliest shooting in history in one of the safest countries in the world. This is why I believe that it is ironically harder to do a shooting in America than in a country that's unprepared.

Back in the 2000s, I felt like Poland was entirely unprepared and that the police would probably repeat all the columbine reaction mistakes.

Right now, I think we are good. We had one planned bombing by trade school students aged 15-17 that got nipped in the bud by the police. I know that nobody is immune and that there's no fullproof measures, but I think we are no less prepared today than Canada or the USA is.

.

(DELETED)

Mr Bubbless wrote:

thenight_watchman wrote:

I usually ponder this topic around and go back and forth with myself, and more than often think another Columbine couldn't happen. A school shooting, yes. Another Columbine, no.
They've revised intruder and school shooter procedures so much and so often that I think that would be the large downfall to it happening again.
I know alone, I've counted 40 different cameras in my school with a front desk attendant there all day to watch the cameras. Every door is locked and only accessible with key cards. There is an administrator in every hallways, all hours of the day, including multiple during each lunch. I know it would be possible to work around those things, but you'd either need to be really involved in school or know people and I just don't think it could be possible for 2 people alone without anyone suspecting.
Plus, if you were able to get in and begin or some how get a bomb to go off. The teachers know what to do now. They wouldn't make their students hide under tables and the cops wait outside for 3 hours before going in. It's the same for many schools around the country. Kids also know the "quiet kid that's actually the school shooter" joke/stereotype so they're ready to go if shit hits the fan.
BUT. This is from the perspective of Columbine that had happened in '99. If Columbine happened for the first time now adays, everything would be completely different.

Maybe, but you also have to consider countries whose people ignorantly believe that something like columbine or any other tragedy would "never happen here" so they ignore many of these procedures. Take Norway for example, no one expected some guy to commit the deadliest shooting in history in one of the safest countries in the world. This is why I believe that it is ironically harder to do a shooting in America than in a country that's unprepared.

I agree. I could say the same with Finland.  I remember reading that a minister or something like that said there was nothing they could do to prevent attacks.  I think people are quite comfortable thinking that their country is ultra safe, when it is not.  In matti saari for example, they allowed him weapons even though they had noticed suspicious attitudes in him.

If we talk about the case of Suzano, for example, in Latin America, and I as a person who belongs there, I can sadly say that people are used to crime and poverty in some of the countries there.  But that does not mean that the media make morbid of many things (for example, in the case of Monterrey, blaming Facebook groups)

But let's say that here the shootings are not at all as frequent as in the United States. And they don't make much noise either

.

Mr Bubbless wrote:

margaflor wrote:

Mr Bubbless wrote:

thenight_watchman wrote:

I usually ponder this topic around and go back and forth with myself, and more than often think another Columbine couldn't happen. A school shooting, yes. Another Columbine, no.
They've revised intruder and school shooter procedures so much and so often that I think that would be the large downfall to it happening again.
I know alone, I've counted 40 different cameras in my school with a front desk attendant there all day to watch the cameras. Every door is locked and only accessible with key cards. There is an administrator in every hallways, all hours of the day, including multiple during each lunch. I know it would be possible to work around those things, but you'd either need to be really involved in school or know people and I just don't think it could be possible for 2 people alone without anyone suspecting.
Plus, if you were able to get in and begin or some how get a bomb to go off. The teachers know what to do now. They wouldn't make their students hide under tables and the cops wait outside for 3 hours before going in. It's the same for many schools around the country. Kids also know the "quiet kid that's actually the school shooter" joke/stereotype so they're ready to go if shit hits the fan.
BUT. This is from the perspective of Columbine that had happened in '99. If Columbine happened for the first time now adays, everything would be completely different.

Maybe, but you also have to consider countries whose people ignorantly believe that something like columbine or any other tragedy would "never happen here" so they ignore many of these procedures. Take Norway for example, no one expected some guy to commit the deadliest shooting in history in one of the safest countries in the world. This is why I believe that it is ironically harder to do a shooting in America than in a country that's unprepared.

I agree. I could say the same with Finland.  I remember reading that a minister or something like that said there was nothing they could do to prevent attacks.  I think people are quite comfortable thinking that their country is ultra safe, when it is not.  In matti saari for example, they allowed him weapons even though they had noticed suspicious attitudes in him.

If we talk about the case of Suzano, for example, in Latin America, and I as a person who belongs there, I can sadly say that people are used to crime and poverty in some of the countries there.  But that does not mean that the media make morbid of many things (for example, in the case of Monterrey, blaming Facebook groups)

But let's say that here the shootings are not at all as frequent as in the United States. And they don't make much noise either

You accidently sent two messages, but your point about shootings in the United States is a bit misguided, per capita you're more likely to die of a mass shooting in Norway than in the United States. And the reason people do not tend to care as much is because if something happens on the other side of the world, people are too selfish to give a shit.

Oooh sorry, now I try to fix the two messages.  I think you are right in the latter. I think I got confused in that part, I say in the last thing I said.