The Evolution (Or Not) Of School Shootings In America Since Columbine (HBO) 

"School shootings will end when America wants them to." Watch Next: How Parkland Students Went From Teens To Activists - bit.ly/2BcdrZA

school shooting --> thoughts and prayers --> gun control debate for 1/2 weeks --> repeat from start

I remember when columbine happened it was on every channel for months and months, it really wasn't typical back then. It's honestly sad how jaded I am to shootings now

Part of the problem is that drills cause a predisposition for *this kind* of thing to happen or go wrong. Because the shooters know the drill, too. They know where you are going to hide, where you're going to go, and they plan for it and it makes it even worse. This is why we only prep our staff, so that the plan isn't leaked and doesn't get around.

20 years of thoughts and prayers and inaction.

Rip Austin Eubanks (first guy in vid) he died of an OD

Last week all schools in Denver were in lockdown because an armed teen who was infatuated with Columbine was looking to celebrate the anniversary. It’s scary. It’s tragic that it’s common now to teach children how to hide in classrooms.

Hard to believe the first guy's already dead when this video only came out barely a month ago...RIP

Taking a kids phone away during a shooting is not a smart idea

6:15 "Sometimes people really want to understand them, and I don't think that is necessary" When interviewed for Michael Moore's documentary Bowling For Columbine, Marilyn Manson was asked what he would have said to the students at Columbine he replied, "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did."

Sadly if Newtown didn’t change their minds, nothing will. I feel for those kids because they are still not old enough to speak about it, but I’m sure one day we will have to hear what is was like for a six year old to go through something like this.

As a non-American, this just seems so weird: to go to school and possibly be killed... 🤨

Man the Columbine survivors have a way different outlook than the others. Need more from them.

When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.

What I found striking is that on the 20th anniversary of the shooting Vice is able to interview at least one school shooting survivor for each year since 1999

Literally nothing about how shootings changed

Back when I was in school, all we had were FIRE drills. Imagine having to go through active shooter drills. Jesus.

I saw Austin Eubanks at a conference in Phoenix. His story gave me chills. A bullet went through his friend Cory’s neck (which killed him) and then went into Austin’s hand. One of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard.

RIP Austin Eubanks.

Sad, Austin Eubanks passed away.

I want to thank everyone who was a part of making this video especially the survivors. You're all very brave for sharing your honesty and the raw realness of how this day changed you all forever. I live in Canada and I'm just baffled at what goes on in the USA involving guns. I'm really sorry that this happened to you. Nobody should go to school and learn what sheer terror feels like and to also experience what derangement looks

My friend has been in a school shooting before. He texted me and a few other friends in a group chat. We all kept telling him to get off the phone till the police came. He got out safely but I was shaking and panicking for a long time. I’m just so relieved. He still talks to me now but I still ask myself everyday, “what would’ve happened if he hadn’t made it out?”

20 years and they STILL happen. Are we not safe anywhere? ;-;

This is tragic to see but the conversation needs to happen more often

I’m from England and I could never imagine a school shooting happening in my country. It seems so strange that America isn’t implementing gun control.

Why do tf you all even need automatic rifles?

It's so strange that most students couldn't even wrap their heads around that they were hearing gunshots. "We thought it was balloons popping, books slamming," our minds just won't believe this could happen. Well.....it can happen 😭. God help us all

I was on lockdown last week. I broke through the window & ran ...

i can’t even keep track of all the school shootings anymore. We went from doing lockdown drills where we hid from the door to four years later doing hour long presentations and demonstrations on how to survive a school shooting. Something needs to change but i don’t know what

I understand this situation of damaged kids since I went through it myself. Moved around all over the US. Beaten at home and bullied at school. Most of the time it was because of the salvation army clothes from the 60s that I wore to school that was of great interest to the groups of bullies at schools I attended. The thing about bullies, is they always travel on groups, never alone. So when one starts on you then the rest of the group starts in, and then the other students all join in the attach. Before you know it, the entire school is after you every second of every day, and it is hell ! This is why kids bring guns and start shooting other kids. My time however was way before school shootings where ever heard of 70s and early 80s. The thing about this kind of 100% all the time beating and bullying a kid starting at the age of 6 until HS graduation, the kid knows only anger and becomes afraid of everyone, a loner. The kids gets off the school bus and walks into his house, and is immediately grabbed by his hair and beaten with a board or switch or whatever is handy by the parent to beat the kid with. That is after his day at school of getting hit, kicked,pushed,harassed, all the wonderful things kids do to terrorize a target student. The parent seems to think the kid is putting drugs in the parents coffee. Strange the kid did not even know what drugs were until the parent continually beat the kid for the implied discretion. My older sister by 2 years at the age of 7 was the first to be beaten for drugs in the parents coffee. Imagine my surprise when I walked in the front door after school to see my parent beating my sister like she had killed someone. Nothing but constant damage to the kids from the time they get up to the time they go to sleep for years and years. This is what destroys kids, This is why kids bring guns to schools and shoot other kids. This is why when kids are bullied we must stop it immediately ! It is not the gun that does the damage, it is the constant damage that the kid face every day by the parents and kids at the school, and the adults that ignore and punish the damaged bullied kids. I know myself I was suspended many many times from school for getting bullied and fighting. When you are constantly attached by groups of students at some point even cowards have enough and fight back. I do not know why I became a coward, or even if that is the correct word? In my 50s now and I still scream and yell, but would run rather than fight. I never have liked people much and prefer to be alone. Is this a result of how I grew up with a dysfunctional childhood? We as the result of damaged kids must face the facts of school shootings and why they happen. It is NOT because bill found his dads gun and thinks it would be a great idea to shoot a bunch of other kids, but the result of a damaged kid not getting help to live a normal kids life. Do not blame the guns for school shootings when the problem has other factors that lead to the kids killing other kids. How do I know? Because I lived through it . Would I have taken a gun to school and shot a bunch of kids back then ? No, because it was a different time, sure my dad had guns, but I never made that connection or had that thought. Would I do it today if I was in school ? That I can not say since it is a different time, but the fact that kids have already been killing other kids in many schools means the cause of school shootings has not been addressed and so they continue to this date. School shootings will not stop until the damaged kids are given a normal life rather than damaged further every day.

The girl said: “People try to understand school shooters, whether they were bullied, traumatized or what, try understand, but I really don’t believe it’s necessary.” And this is why school shootings in America keep happening

Its weird that there is only 2 school shootings in Canada from 1999 to 2019

This needed to be longer , with views from teachers , family and government...

There is a school shooting. Teacher: "Ok, time to confiscate phones no phones allowed during class even when there is an active shooter" WTF. They should have just ran.

It's a cultural problem. Guns are part of it, but only part. It's also a side effect of extreme individualism, a culture that fosters competition over everything else, an unequal society, no empathy or sympathy, my needs over the needs of the collective or those outside my group, a distorted sense of what it is to be part of a society, celebrity culture, among a miriad of other stuff. It not only didn't get better, it got way worse, and the effects of that are happening right now and getting worse sooner than later. It might take close to total destruction for something to change, and the risk is that there will be nothing left after that. US is trapped within it's own culture. It cannot and will not admit that other cultures might be better, most of it's citizens will never get to have significant contact with other cultures if any at all, and most of the population will keep believing that the US is the best country in the world until it collapses by itself. Several of the political shifts, the recent turn towards nationalism and seeking apparently strong leaderships are closely related. It's not only about the US, you can read it in history books on other nation states too. It is happening in other nation states too. We're inching closer historically to a shift in power and shift in leadership position worldwide. It will be tumutuous, it will be severe, and it'll cause a whole ton of hardship and deaths. But it is a fairly common occurance in human history. Seems we just cannot win against our nature. The problem this time is how global and how interconnected the world has become. Plus how much destructive power people have, from an individual standpoint up to coalition of countries. Everytime this cycle repeats it seems humanity as a whole is further affected and further self destructs. We might be reaching our great filter event. Enjoy while we last.

3:20 "there's a shooting...it's real this time"

The inability of the American people to learn is breathtaking. Guns, climate change, religiosity, wealth inequality, access to higher education, healthcare, police violence, obesity, ... The answers to those problems are known. But keep ignoring the problems.

School shootings and mass shootings are terrible, but they are exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Since 1993, the U.S. property crime rate and violent crime rate have both fallen by 50-75%. There are about 40,000 gun deaths per year in America right now. About 60% are suicides, 40% are homicides, and the remaining 0.25% are mass shootings but it used to be less than 0.1%. So 1 in 400 gun deaths are from a mass shooting (used to be 1 in 1000). Its extremely rare, but the media constantly talks about it when it happens, propaganda that gets you to believe the world is getting more dangerous, when in reality the world is getting safer every day. These stats are from the FBI and BJS and Pew Research Center, you can look them up! :)

Thank god their bombs didn’t go off

Both Millennials and Gen Z and beyond couldn't be any bigger problems than this

It's sad that all of those shootings still happen and nothing is being done. And it's true about the drills, these drills get people paranoid. I didnt realised how ingrained those drills were put on us while all of us grew up in a time were school shooting were and are a thing that can happen and now is seen as a normal thing. Thankfully i never and hope i never go through something like this, but i didnt realised that everytime i go to a big store i automatically look for all the exits and or when i go to concerts i buy the ticket that's near to the closest exit where people are out of the way were i could leave emidiatl immediately. Never noticed it until i was having conversation with a coworker at work. And apperantly a lot of people do the same. We live in a society where this has become something normal.

I was in grade school during the Cuban missile crisis- when there was the real fear that nuclear attack could come at any time. Thankfully, I was too young to be traumatized, but I remember the drills at school where we would be told to hide under our desks. People were building bomb shelters in their backyards, and the basements of many public buildings were being outfitted as fallout shelters, with stockpiles of survival rations that were placed there by Civil Defense. A lot of that stuff is still there. And guns in school? We had them in the 1970's. I attended high school in the most affluent, upscale suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. (East Amherst), where we had what we called the "frats", or Greek letter gangs. They were kids from wealthy families who thought that it would be fun to go to war with frats from other schools. Every once in awhile, someone would tip off the police, who would conduct a locker search. They would find sawed off shotguns, handguns, knives, tire irons, etc. in the frat boys lockers.

Rest in peace Austin. The last victim of Columbine.

R.I.P Austin :"(

I was a senior in high school. Never worried about guns even though I’d seen them at school. We were more concerned with the constant bomb threats. Glad none of that ever actually happened.

I was in elementary school when Columbine happened. I remember how everything changed after that, even now the first thing I do is look for anywhere to hide or escape wherever I go. I couldn’t imagine being in one and I feel for these survivors. I hope we start seeing changes.

Crazy to think that as a kid, you’re putting your life in danger everyday (besides weekends) doing something that takes the most time out of your day

Only need to watch the last 3 seconds. The rest is captivating.

The thing with active shooter drills... the ones doing the shooting would be taking part. They're getting trained for all the preventative measures.

Let's take action. Hahahahahahahaha jk we all have no say in anything

Anybody else click on the video because the title made them think this would be the evolution (or not) of school shootings, and not just a bunch of interviews?

The columbine survivor Austin (blue shirt blue eyes) is genuinely one of the smartest and well-spoken people I've heard talk about these subjects. Eubanks 2020?

you won't understand such events without understanding the unseen role of denial. unconscious emotions are driving much of human life at this point because people habitually control them and feel controlled by others too. the rage, terror, panic and pain that has built up inside of individuals and the collective over long periods needs to be vented and that is where much violence originates. emotional processing and loving intent is needed now.

You know, we should also be talking about bullying aswell as mental health of the shooter.

As long as there’s two people left on the planet, someone’s gonna want someone dead! -The Sniper

I remember the day in April when Columbine happen it was pretty much the time I realized I was addicted to oxy's. An the country.... the planet... the world that I found myself living in became a f****** nightmare! I was almost eighteen at that time. Within a few years 9/11 happened and ever since then things have steadily gotten worse? What is probably the strangest thing is that my addiction to opiates/ opioids is not even my biggest issue with life 🤔 I'm sure this is confusing. I feel for every single human being that has been affected by other broken human beings, that have gone out an fucked up the lives of future generations. It is disgusting, and it is a large part of why I am complete and total misanthrope! Take care ppl ☮️☮️☮️☮️

I graduated from one of the largest high schools in AZ in 2008 and I never feared a school shooter and don’t remember a single school shooter drill. The world has gone to absolute hell in a short amount of time

I'm just genuinely curious. Whenever new gun control laws are mentioned some people say something along the lines of "guns don't kill people, people kill people." There are people in every country(obviously), but, as far as I know, no other country other than the USA has a school shooting problem this severe. If people could "find another way to commit mass murder" why doesn't this happen everywhere then. I believe law abiding citizens should be able to bare arms, but there are too many guns circulating in the United States and the gun laws are overall too lax (in my opinion).

Something about the US school system... it appears to be good at creating outcasts. The outcasts are young, angry, and have access to guns. The results are not surprising to me. You need to take away the anger or the guns. I'd work on taking away the anger, because that's the root cause of the problem, and you just can't stop them getting hold of guns.

Well no, another way of lessening these occurrences isn't just not giving shooters recognition. But having more tools readily available to help struggling young men who feel voiceless, powerless, destructive, inside of them. There is something psychology going on with the, and note when I say psychology I don't mean a condition, I don't mean mental illness. I am talking about something inside their environment or something inside of psyche is developing an individual who feels violence is the only way he can get his voice through. That's something we still need to talk about, because if we don't treat these shooters like human - even a human who did something violent and destructive, we cannot get the boys who need help early on, the help they need. They aren't gamers. They aren't people who watch violent television shows. They are disenfranchised boys, who are frustrated about something, pushed often over the edge by something in their developing lives, who commit acts of violence because of lack of perceived power and we need to figure out why they feel that way.

We forget that anyone involved in this kind of situation is a victim so survivors,first responders,teachers,police all no doubt suffered some form PTSD. Mr Eubanks seemed an intelligent articulate man-who knows what he would have become if Columbine hadnt happened,very sad what happened to him.

Like America deserves anything but this. We are not good.

3:42 when she said she attempted suicide she looked down in sadness

I’m socially very left leaning but here’s my 2 pence on gun control. I draw somewhat of a parallel between gun rights and right to privacy on the internet and feel that the way liberals vilify guns is the same way conservatives vilify encryption. Terrorists and criminals use the fact that the internet is private to commit horrific crimes. But we’re against any surveillance because of the potential of it snowballing into a surveillance state. We are willing to live with the risks that internet privacy poses. But when a mass shooting happens, many people call for bans, and that makes gun owners feel vilified. It’s like saying we’re taking away encryption for all of you because terrorists can use it too. I personally think Canadian gun laws are quiet reasonable. If you want a lethal weapon, you should be able to prove that you are mentally sound and can handle the weapon safely, like you have to do for a driving licence. Guns will pose a risk but there are ways to manage this risk other than a blanket ban. Tell me your thoughts. Comments appreciated.

there is no politics to a school shooter. You guys beg for politics but the same things happen, so ?? Try something different. It’s not a politics thing , it’s a schooling and simply the environment of a child or children

New Zealand had a mass shooting and actually did something about it. America is sad.

The guy in the blue shirt not dismissing there names and tried to not bury what happened to him. Personally I think he was the wisest person.

No expects it. Today they are "prepared" but still don't expect it

What stands out in my memory about the 90’s is that all of our baby boomer parents had kids because society expected them to and they just went and did it without being fully informed of the full scope of responsibilities that went into competently raising a child and when that responsibility demanded they act beyond the personal comfort zone they refused to do so, instead inflicting a lot of emotional abuse on us (and I am including my schoolmates and their families in this, not just my own family life) and insisting it wasn’t real abuse because it wasn’t leaving any marks on our bodies. Now that same generation is complaining about the Narcissism in the Millennial generation and blaming technology as a deflection tactic to avoid accountability for their toxic parenting/child abuse.

It's just a culture shift, this wasn't common for must of the last century. Social media but increasing lack of socialization is the main contributor.

Think how many times a friend, family member, or subordinate told you, "Just run!". That alone is something I have never had to deal with in the 40 years of my life. Hard to imagine a scenario where you'd even be in a situation like that, huh? Your children never should have to either. Let's finally do something about this!

Finally a discussion about something other then a gun ban. These arguments make so much more sense.

Lack of moral values and selfishness amongst the community

Bullying... That's the first problem

Not one single mention of getting help with the shooters mental health. If we as a society want this to stop we need to get to the root of the problem and stop ignoring people that are in need. In almost 100% of mass shootings they could have been prevented if only one person reached out or gave the shooter the attention or help they needed. Someone doesn't just decide to do this kinda stuff its built up over years and it only takes a few nice people to completely change the direction someone is going.

Thank you for this video, its good to see the survivors talk about it and they are so right, the media has to stop mentioning the losers killers names God bless the survivors and hope the future will be better for you

That's America for ya. A country where, despite the amount of mass shootings, they even promote the use of guns, rifles and any weapon which you could think of.

the funny thing that I find about American shootings is how much of a problem its blown out to be by the media. I grew up in a country where in the past 20 years a person would have been almost ten times more likely to have died from a mass shooting. you'd think it would be Congo or Honduras or some place like that which has had such a large proportion killed by mass shooters, but the country I grew up in was Norway. I remember when I was eleven hearing about a crazy man who shot kids on an island who were a part of a political party vacation (for Norways labour party), and I was absolutely shocked because growing up it had been taught to me that Norway was one of the most peaceful countries on the planet. I think Americans and American media don't really recognise that shootings or acts of terrorism aren't really something intrinsic to USA, other countries experience them at the same rate. America only gets more shootings (or seems to get more) than the average country because they are a very big country with a big population, and the media can always count on a mass shooting to make a good headline they can profit off of.

i wish we could get an interview from a kid that was in the sandy hook shooting. i’m about the same age as a lot of them, and i really wish i could hear their input.

Wow 😮 this is truly sad and breaking my heart! Unbelievable.

I genuinely feel for the PTSD expressed here, but damn it makes me trip off of how messed up people who grow up in violent neighborhoods must be. Shootings happen daily, I wonder how TF they even make it.

why isn't anyone saying anything about banning guns altogether...

great video!!

America will only think about gun control once someone in power has suffered these tragic consequences

I’m Canadian and kids shouldn’t be going through this at school!! This is heartbreaking! I just can’t imagine! Guns are an issue in America, plain and simple!

We as people need to be more accepting of others. regardless how MUCH you dislike something you shouldnt dehumanize and treat someone.like trash. i hope we improve how we treat each other before this animosity leads to further violence .

Who is here after 2022 school shooting ?

I’m in my junior year currently and there have been many years where we’ve had more active shooter drills than any other emergency drill combined. If a person walking into an elementary school with a gun is more common than a fire than there’s a serious problem

I just turned12 10day in 1999 before this shooting in the uk in First senior and almost year. I remember seeing my mom watching on the news. Then their families have to deal with actions of the damage they course.

Arkansas had a school shooting in May 98, before Columbine. Not sure how many happened beforehand (1840 was the first according to wikipedia) but we Arkansans were aware and had drills. Weird how media picks what they want masses to notice and which to ignore.

The Thurston High School shooting took place on May 21, 1998. Expelled student Kip Kinkel first murdered his parents before engaging in a school shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon that left two students, Ben Walker and Mikael Nickolauson, dead and 25 others wounded.[1] Kinkel is currently serving a 111-year sentence without the possibility of parole.

happy 4/20 🙋🏻‍♂️

i consider buying a bullet proof vest sometimes, not even joking

The solution is that if there is no guns is less gun violence.Look at the Japan where is only 1 person on 10 million who is a victim of gun violence or South korea where the guns are completly forbidden even for hunting.

Not saying a school shooter's name or not broadcasting every school shooting every time one happens is burying your head in the sand. I keep hearing numbers of shootings with no details as to when, where, what type of weapons, and so forth, as if we are all better off not knowing. NO! Sweeping this under the rug is irresponsible. It's no wonder this problem is not going away.

The Word "shooting" demands a gun...

5:30 this mans just undid all the shit the people before him where talking about 😭

The survivors of Columbine their stories touched me more. The others were tragic but Columbine was terror in a different time compared the all too familiar of school shootings today.

One happened in my country in Scotland back in 1996 its called Dunblane shootings, i was 8 at the time 16 young kids and a teacher i knew someone that went there ,there's never been another one since because they changed the gun law after that,definitely something they should do in the USA

class of 2020.. wait what? its only 2019