On Columbine anniversary, change still needed
There are dates on the calendar that stand out. Birthdays and holidays, fun days like the day I brought home my cat. There are other dates that have a grim reminder: the day a loved one died or something on a more devastating scale, such as 9/11.
April 20 stands out. Twentyfour years ago, two high school seniors at Columbine High School in Colorado murdered 12 students and one teacher.
Nearly 1,000 miles away, I was a 16-year-old junior at Judson High School. Part of me is surprised that an incident so far away, something I have had no direct connection to, has had such a lasting impact on me.
I was so naive then. I complained for years about how strict the public school was about security. There were no off-campus lunches and the dress code seemed more rigid than some private schools.
The requirement for seethrough backpacks — even before Columbine — was annoying. Wearing my school ID on a chain around my neck was annoying. Having to tuck in my collared shirt was annoying. Admittedly, not much wasn’t annoying as a teenager, especially those seemingly arbitrary rules from adults.
However, 24 years later, I see it differently.
See-through backpacks, school IDS, closed campus lunches — they’re the least we could have done to keep everyone safe.
Now, the least we can do is increase the age to buy a gun and have stricter background checks. Annoying for law-abiding gun owners? Perhaps. But it could mean at least one life is saved, or maybe prevent the next mass shooting. Even age restrictions didn’t prevent the Columbine murders, but as a nation, we have to start somewhere.
In my role as op-ed and letters editor, I’ve read several letters imploring the Expressnews to stop reporting on Uvalde or for the opinion team to stop demanding more gun control. We’re not going to do that. It has been 24 years since Columbine, and we’re still facing the same dilemma: gun rights versus gun control.
The Gun Violence Archive reports there have been 164 mass shootings so far this year, and according to the Washington Post, there have been 377 school shootings since Columbine.
During an Editorial Board meeting this week, one school board candidate detailed how he walked with his daughter through her elementary school to strategize about where to hide in case of an active shooter. Kids should be playing hideand-seek, but not like this. Why is this their reality?
Something has to be done. More gun restrictions, more funding for mental health care, better training for law enforcement. It should be all of those things.
The next date we remember should be the date we all put the needs of others before our own and pass policies that save lives. Until then, we won’t forget: Columbine in Littleton, Colo., April 20, 1999.
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., April 16, 2007.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012.
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 14, 2018.
Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, May 24, 2022.
Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., March 27.