COLUMBINE AND ITS AFTERMATH
By Ronald C. Tobin
April 20th, 1999, was the 110th Anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. Being a significant anniversary, I figured that someone out there would do something incredibly stupid to commemorate this event. Well, I was right, after a fashion. On that day, in Littleton, Colorado, social misfits Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decided to mark Hitler's birthday by literally blowing up their high school and killing off those students who had tormented them over the years, and then taking their own lives. Suffice to say, Hitler would not have been impressed with the suicide part , he would have wanted Harris and Klebold to try and escape, or at least to have gone out in a fire-fight with the authorities. I suppose it is just as well that they chose to end the way that they did.
The now famous massacre at Columbine High School was indeed a tragic event. No doubt those who died, those who have been crippled, those whose families were shattered, did not really deserve this fate. Harris and Klebold were obviously mentally unbalanced in some fashion, a fate which can befall some social misfits. These two snapped utterly, and I know they were victims of peer pressure. I do not in any way excuse what they did, but as a person who was a misfit in high school, who put up with ridicule from my alleged peers simply for being different (I was labeled a 'brain,' and one time in history class, while passing out papers for a teacher, a girl called me a geek in front of everyone, somewhat humiliating), I understand in some fashion why they did what they did. I do not, in any way, condone their actions, and the ultimate responsibility lies with them.
For some reason, people are scrambling to discover who is responsible for this massacre. As I said, the answer is simple: Harris and Klebold did it, therefore the responsibility lies with them. If there were others involved, then they share the blame to the extent of their involvement. To place blame elsewhere ( their parents, society, the media, movie violence, education system, availability of guns, the moronic nation-state) is simply absurd. Individuals need to be held accountable for their own actions, period. In the case of Harris and Klebold, they already passed judgment on themselves and carried out their death warrant: case closed.
What bothers me the most about Columbine is the hue and cry for additional victim disarmament (some call it gun control ) in its aftermath. People have this bizarre misconception that future Columbine-style massacres can be prevented by further restricting access to firearms. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Gun control is the problem, not the solution.
What is the real answer? How can future Columbine massacres be avoided? The answers are simple, too simple for those running the American Imperium to accept in their orgy of enacting further victim disarmament legislation. First, remove all restrictions on gun ownership, period. No more registration, no legal restrictions on concealed carry. An armed society tends to be a polite society. If other students had been armed, the chances are excellent that Harris and Klebold would not have attempted this. Second, abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. This is one of the most terrorist of government agencies, perhaps even more vile than the IRS and INS. Of course, ultimately we must rid ourselves of the State entirely, but we can take it a step at a time. Finally, abolish the public schools. They are mind-numbing institutions where little real education takes place, where the youth are compelled by law to be. No wonder those who do not conform to social norms will sometimes crack! These youth internment camps have simply got to go.
What will not help, will in fact raise the chances of future Columbines by extending victim disarmament and thus making more people targets, are the things being done now. In recent days, the Senate has passed bills requiring background checks for sales at gun shows, that all handguns need to be sold with trigger locks. They are entertaining legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21, and banning some other so-called assault weapons. These are just steps down the slippery slope towards total disarmament. Even if the masses approve of this rubbish, that does not make it right. Frankly, I am suspicious of all polls about gun issues. I wonder HOW they are asking these questions and WHOM they are asking them of.
In sum, speaking as a trained historian, I can state that Hitler would not have been impressed by what Harris and Klebold did, especially since they committed suicide. He would, however, approve of the Clinton Administration's new moves to further victim disarmament. THAT, I think, is a fact worth pondering.
To the victims of Columbine: rest in peace.
To the panicky masses of the US: wake up! The government is NOT your friend, and will NOT protect you!
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