Psychiatrists specialising in teenage violence say that when the trauma and rage, typical among a minority of people in that age group, are linked with easy access to hand weapons it can be a lethal combination - and one that has become all too prevalent in the United States over the last 20 years. Permissive gun laws cannot, in themselves, explain the dreadful massacre at Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, in which 15 people are now known to have been killed. Researchers also point to patterns of violence in society and the media and to homes broken by divorce and separations. But there can be no doubt that tighter controls on access to weapons have a crucial part to play in preventive action.
Words alone cannot convey the horror and shock affecting this community of pupils, teachers and parents. It is too early to be sure whether the bizarre clique within the school, from which the two 18-year-old assailants were drawn, was a conspiracy linked to fascist or ultra-right groups that have proliferated on the margins of mainstream politics. One way or another, it is one more example of the prevalent adolescent impulse to avenge perceived exclusion and social ostracisation spilling over into murderous violence. The authorities have debated the issues long and hard, pointing to the need for much closer monitoring and counselling of troubled teenagers and dealing with the advantages of stepping up direct security in the schools themselves. All these discussions will be reinforced by the events in Denver. So will President Clinton's efforts to use federal legislation to curb access to weapons.
By a black irony, the National Rifle Association is holding its annual conference in Denver later this month. It has been lobbying hard against stricter gun controls introduced in the state, which many legislators say have substantially reduced armed robberies and homicides. The association is an extremely powerful national interest group, especially influential in rural areas and western states. In recent years, it has been battling against legislation which allows people to sue arms firms for the costs of armed violence - along the same lines as legal actions taken against tobacco companies.
The US has a vibrant legal system allowing free play for such initiatives, despite the readiness of state legislatures, Colorado included, to head them off. President Clinton has made tighter gun control a central part of his legislative programme and has had considerable success in limiting access to weapons at federal level, despite a generally hostile Republican majority in Congress. The results have been seen in many of the major cities. This tragedy must reinforce the determination to proceed and to encourage similar action at state levels, where most of the political decision-making on the issue is conducted.
Parents must also be aware that violence permeates American popular culture and that young people are particularly exposed to it. While there is no clear evidence of a direct causative effect, adolescents are peculiarly vulnerable to the idea that their frustrations can be acted out violently. Modern communications and the international influence of US popular culture demand that the lessons from such dreadful events be absorbed all over the world.