WI: No Columbine?

What if the Columbine massacre in 1999 doesnt happen? Either Dylan and Eric dont go to school that day, or they get found out right before the incident goes down or any other possibility.
 

Narnia

Banned
Gun issues might not be as big of a hot topic in politics. No Columbine may very well mean that other twisted individuals are never "inspired" to act out other school massacres, saving more lives in the future.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
The government latches onto another criminal event to try to take away our 2nd Amendment rights.
This is one of the most pointless efforts to derail a thread into political napalm strikes I've seen in a while.

It is also remarkably close to conspiracy mongering.

Grind this ax in Chat when you come back, if you feel compelled to do so. DO NOT do it in the regular forums.

Kicked for a week for flamebaiting.
 
What if the Columbine massacre in 1999 doesnt happen? Either Dylan and Eric dont go to school that day, or they get found out right before the incident goes down or any other possibility.

The tropes about bullied kids and kids who wear black overcoats don't happen.
And the major anti-bullying programs are set back.
 
The question that determines a lot of this is, does this butterfly away similar such tragedies? Does the school shooting idea stay out of the cultural mind enough to prevent itself from repeating?

Probably not, of course, but considering how rare mass shootings are/were at schools, the effects are still similar, I think. Security at schools remains smaller, zero tolerance policies are not enacted, overall we have a greater feeling of safety in schools and there is much less fuss about weapons... at least until the Virginia Tech Massacre.

While school shootings happen 'common' by news standards, they've only gone above two or three people a handful of times.
 
No real difference. School shootings were already a significant issue. Things didn't change. They didn't change after much worse shootings at Virginia Tech and in Connecticut recently.
 
No real difference. School shootings were already a significant issue. Things didn't change. They didn't change after much worse shootings at Virginia Tech and in Connecticut recently.

Did schools in the eighties and nineties have security guards at most entrances and some indoor areas?

I'm not being a smartass, I'm being completely serious, I have no idea.
 
Did schools in the eighties and nineties have security guards at most entrances and some indoor areas?

I'm not being a smartass, I'm being completely serious, I have no idea.

Not at the same level as they did after Columbine. Back in the mid-90's there seemed to be a school shooting every year. The difference with Columbine was that it was two gunmen, and the large number of victims. My high school had very little security when I went there, but when my younger sister was in school after Columbine happened they put new locks on the doors and hired more security. That was also when schools went with the "zero tolerance" policy and kids were getting suspended for the mere suggestion of violence like pretending a folded piece of paper, or their finger was a gun and pointing it at other kids.

So without Columbine we probably get more small time school shootings until a really big one occurs on the level of a Columbine or Virginia Tech, at which point we get the reaction by the media, government, and school systems that happened in the OTL.
 

Art

Monthly Donor
Maybe. . .

But you get a shooting just like it. . . because the precautions taken because of Columbine aren't taken.
 
Not at the same level as they did after Columbine. Back in the mid-90's there seemed to be a school shooting every year. The difference with Columbine was that it was two gunmen, and the large number of victims. My high school had very little security when I went there, but when my younger sister was in school after Columbine happened they put new locks on the doors and hired more security. That was also when schools went with the "zero tolerance" policy and kids were getting suspended for the mere suggestion of violence like pretending a folded piece of paper, or their finger was a gun and pointing it at other kids.

So without Columbine we probably get more small time school shootings until a really big one occurs on the level of a Columbine or Virginia Tech, at which point we get the reaction by the media, government, and school systems that happened in the OTL.
Yeah, that's what I was suggesting. My High School had a crapload of security guards, and many of them weren't even stationed at the doors, and horror stories about zero tolerance policies continue, although I brought a ton of Lego guns to class during Junior High and never got into any trouble myself :p Shootings happen a lot, but the victim count is rarely above three people.
 
Even without Columbine, school shootings would and did still occur before and after, so I think that to a degree zero-tolerance policies and security would still exist in schools countrywide but to a lesser extent then in OTL.

The Columbine shooters could have been caught and stopped prior to carrying out their killings assuming the police acted upon early warnings,

from Wikipedia:

As Harris had posted on his website that he possessed explosives, Guerra wrote a draft affidavit, requesting a search warrant of the Harris household. He never filed it
Had a search warrant been issued, it is likely that their stash of weapons and pipe bombs may have been found resulting in the arrest of the Columbine killers prior to the massacre.

But school shootings would still occur, although not at the horrific magnitude as seen at Columbine, so we'd be seeing less tight security and a less stringent zero-tolerance policy IMHO but nonetheless measures would still be put in place to a degree to prevent school shootings.

Just some thoughts off of the top of my head.
 
Top