The long bloody list of massacres in the United States

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19 children and two teachers were shot dead at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The act is the latest sad culmination in a seemingly endless series of similar crimes in the United States.

Mourning after the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas

Ironically, the worst massacre at a school in the history of the USA is almost forgotten after just a few days. On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh is the first person to fly non-stop and alone across the Atlantic. The flight goes down in history – and at the same time ensures that almost nobody in the USA speaks of the assassination in Bath any more. 

Two days earlier, on May 18, 1927, a bomb attack killed 45 people in the Michigan community school massacre, most of them students in first through sixth grades. The perpetrator Andrew Kehoe, a member of the school committee, felt that raising taxes for the school would have bankrupted him.

The Production of Pyrotol, an explosive available after World War I that Kehoe had also used, ceased a year later. But that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the attack. There are simply not enough raw materials left, only the remnants of the US Army from the Second World War. 

Notoriety: Columbine High School, Colorado

The shooting spree at Columbine High School 72 years later, also known as the Littleton, Colorado school massacre, remains etched in the minds of an entire nation to this day. On April 20, 1999, two seniors shoot dead twelve students between the ages of 14 and 18, a teacher and then themselves within an hour.

The killing spree is considered the archetype of school shootings, which have since skyrocketed worldwide. The term “Columbine Effect” arose because many later gunmen were inspired by the brutal massacre for their own actions. And another neologism in connection with the killing spree is still common today: all students in the USA who are born after April 20, 1999 are referred to as “Generation Columbine”. Children and young people who don't even know a world without school shootings.

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Columbine: The trauma continues to this day

The President of the United States at the time is Bill Clinton, and he is said to be the first US head of state to break his teeth on gun law reform. Clinton wants to control the arms markets and buyers at least at the weekend. The Senate agrees to a weakened form of this tightening, but the House of Representatives smashes the reform.

At least the children should be safe in the future. Washington is investing millions in the “Cops in Schools” project — since then almost 30,000 schools have been monitored by security forces. In addition, there are video surveillance systems, metal detectors and closed entrances to the school building during lessons. Alarm exercises are carried out regularly and identification is required at the entrance. The deterrent effect? Nearly zero.

Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia

March 21, 2005, Red Lake High School, Minnesota: A 16-year-old student shoots five students, a security guard, a teacher, and then himself. October 2, 2006, West Nickels Mines School, Pennsylvania: A 32-year-old student murders five girls before he shoots himself. Crimes that are quickly forgotten. After the shooting spree at Virginia Tech, things aren't going back to business that quickly in the USA either.

On April 16, 2007, a 32-year-old student killed 32 people and then shot himself on the university campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. Anyone over the age of 18 in the US state can easily buy handguns.

Memorial stone in Blacksburg, Virginia, with names of victims, April 16, 2007

President George W. Bush is nearing the end of his second term, but he's content to say that every citizen of the United States has the right to bear a gun. But you have to obey all laws. Once again, gun laws remain untouched, and the dire consequences are not long in coming.

Illinois, California, Connecticut

February 14, 2008, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb – A 27-year-old student shoots five people in a classroom and then kills himself. April 2, 2012, Oikos University, Oakland, California – A 43-year-old man breaks into a Christian school and shoots seven adults. Then came December 14, 2012 – and again the US was in shock for a few days.

Twenty first graders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, died in a shooting spree, as did six employees elementary school and the perpetrator's mother before the 20-year-old gun fanatic shoots himself.

The police evacuate Children of Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012

The powerful National Rifle Association knows how to prevent such acts in the future: It proposes that every school in the USA be guarded by armed police officers. Scott Brown is the first Republican politician to call for a nationwide ban on assault rifles, but backtracks a short time later.

At least something is happening in the US state New York: Governor Andrew Cuomo has privately owned assault rifles and magazines with more than seven rounds banned. Colorado and Connecticut are also tightening their gun laws. President Barack Obama, on the other hand, fails with an initiative in Congress to ban privately owned semi-automatic rifles and screen all gun buyers. The spiral of violence continues unabated.

California, Washington, Florida. And two times Texas

June 7, 2013, Santa Monica College, California: A 23-year-old kills five people before being shot dead by police. October 24, 2014, Marysville Pilchuck High School, Washington State: Four dead after a 15-year-old student shoots before killing himself. October 1, 2015, Umpqua Community College, Oregon: A 26-year-old student shoots eight students and one faculty, then kills himself.

And again, a massacre with many more dead has to happen before US society and politics pause for a moment. At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 17 people, 14 of them teenagers, died on February 14, 2018 after a 19-year-old went on a rampage at his former school.

The student Emma Gonzalez led the protests for stricter gun laws in the USA in February 2018

At the time, the president was Donald Trump, who advocates arming teachers instead of tightening gun laws. A short time later, Trump no longer wanted to hear anything about his idea of ​​raising the minimum age for certain gun purchases from 18 to 21. A week after the massacre, the Florida House of Representatives rejected a stricter gun law by a vote of 71:36.

On May 18, 2018, a student at Santa Fe High School in Texas shot dead eight of his classmates and two teachers , he also hid explosive devices around the school. And now the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two teachers. The perpetrator is 18 years old.