Many politicians and parents described the Columbine massacre as a wake-up call for the country. There have been at least five similar shootings since Loukaitis' rampage. That these multiple-victim shootings are rare hasn't made them easier to accept. Incidents of school violence, including homicides, are actually down from several years ago, according to the National School Safety Center of Westlake Village. The 1996 attack at Frontier Junior High in Moses Lake looks today like an unnerving template for the crimes that followed.
Adults always worry about the moral state of the next generation.
It's what adults do. But maybe they have more reason to worry today. Through the Internet, television, video games and other media, Americans have a 24-hour pipeline into a pop culture seemingly more violent and graphic than even a decade ago. The family of a boy who shot five people last year at an Arkansas school said he may have been influenced by violent rap-music lyrics. But simply hearing a song or playing a video game does not a violent heart make.