by Thomas L. Jipping

About the author: Thomas L. Jipping is director of the Free Congress Foundation’s Center for Law and Democracy, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 of their peers, a teacher, and themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. A few days later, Colorado Governor Bill Owens warned in a radio address of a “virus loose within our culture.”. . . Some popular music is part of this cultural virus, which can help lead some young people to violence.

Five days after the massacre, Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, reported on the show that the Littleton killers idolized shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, described even by the music press as an “ultra-violent satanic rock monstrosity.&rdquo...