The Aftermath of Reaction to the Mass Murders in Littleton

In “There Are No Lessons to Be Learned from Littleton”, Gary Kleck examines the mass shootings in several schools in America, but questions the diagnoses and solutions provided by the journalists and other experts immediately followed the tragedy. While he acknowledges that some of the causes associated with youth violence and crime may be contributing factors, such as guns, bullying, uninvolved parents, lack of religion, and violence in movies, Kleck makes the distinction between “ordinary acts of violence” among youth and violent events involving many victims.     

Kleck’s purpose in writing this essay is to caution society about analyzing the causes of violence and crime, and trying to identify effective ways of reducing violence and crime immediately after a violent event has occurred. He believes that these diagnoses are often counter productive in the aftermath.  After watching media coverage of the tragic event at the high school in Littleton, Colorado, Kleck believes the public generally may believe that youth are growing more violent, that violence in schools and gun violence is increasing, and that violence in general is increasing.  These types of events are always heavily covered by the media, but they are not the norm and are “unrepresentative of broader categories of crime and violence.” He refers to these mass school shootings as “freakish events” and thinks that these events are misdiagnosed because statistics show there has been a decline in school, gun, and youth violence.

According to Kleck, the action taken should have long term preventive effects; “yet, the more bizarre an event, the less likely it is to be repeated.”  He makes the point, that events like the massive shootings at Littleton are not likely to be repeated in the same way again and a preventive measure made to ensure that an event like this will not happen is unlikely to succeed, because it is “tailored to the specifics of such events.” Kleck also acknowledges that the government’s response to school violence is ineffective and irrelevant.  Members of Congress presented a bill that would “crack down on firearm dealers who sell firearms to children,” when clearly none of the massive schools shooting has been linked to the sale of firearms from any dealers.

Although there is an immediate human need to diagnose and find effective solutions, Kleck presents a valid argument as to why there should not be a judgment when analyzing mass murders among youth. With these types of crimes there may be a combination of plausible solutions, but there may also never be an effective solution to these extra ordinary events.

Do you think the media does more harm than good when they respond to these “freakish events” by presenting irrational solutions?