December 1, 1997: Rage

[CrystalHunter1989]

On this day 14 years ago, Michael Carneal walked into Heath High School and fired on a student prayer group. Equipped with two .22 caliber weapons and a 12 gauge shotgun, he killed three and wounded five before expending his ammunition. According to witnesses, he dropped all of his weapons and surrendered to the principal before police arrived. Carneal was ruled mentally ill, but sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole after 25 years.

Heath High School was the first widely publicized incident of the 90s, and set off a wave of similar incidents. Each time, the body count got higher, but no one suggested training the students to protect themselves. Author Stephen King was horrified to discover that Carneal had a copy of his novel Rage in his locker, which was a blueprint on how to commit a successful school shooting in a fictitious scenario. He immediately requested that the book be taken out of print, for fear that it would inspire similar incidents.

[NOLA556]

damn, why have I never even heard of this??

I wonder why the little fucker chose a prayer group. everyone who knows me knows that I'm about as far from "spiritual" as they come, but for fuck's sake! you gotta be one sick puppy to walk into a place of worship and start lighting the place up. that's pretty down low, man. I'd say it's even worse than just picking people at random.

also, I can't say I blame Stephen King for reacting the way he did, but it burns me up how it's always the entertainment industry to catch the blame for this type of stuff. just like Marilyn Manson and the N64 "Goldeneye" game took the heat for the Columbine kids... bullshit. it's the opposite approach to the problem than what it should be. violent video games and gratuitously violent movies are my absolute favorite, but it doesn't make me want to go kill people.

I'd bet if those Columbine kids' parents would have taught them to break a bully's nose, that's all that would have happened. I'd bet they wouldn't have done what they did because they wouldn't have allowed it to get that bad.  those are my thoughts on the issue. I don't taut it as fact, but it's the impression that I get.