This Saturday marks 25 years since the massacre at Columbine High School, where two armed young men shot dead 12 of their classmates and a teacherin addition to wounding 13 other students, before the attackers committed suicide.
This attack, broadcast live on television, ushered in the modern era of school shootings and prompted the need for a national debate on gun ownership.
However, 25 years later, the efforts have not yielded great results, since since then there have been more than 400 school shootings such as those in Newtown (Connecticut), Parkland (Florida) and Uvalde (Texas).
Even the annual edition of the arms fair known as Tanner Gun Showin which the two school bullies bought their rifles without needing documents to verify their identity or age.
The massacre, according to an investigation published in 2015 by the Mother Jones site and cited by Europa Press, “inspired” no less than 74 similar incidents. In 13 of those cases, The attackers declared their intention to “exceed” the number of Columbine victims.
In at least ten, the suspects referred to the perpetrators of the massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as “heroes”, “idols” or “martyrs”.
A date to reflect
Eileen McCarron, spokesperson for the Colorado Ceasefire organization, told the EFE agency that this date is “a powerful opportunity for the entire community, at the local and national level, to come together to reflect on all the deceased and the victims.” countless families whose lives were forever transformed by the horrific violence of April 20, 1999.”
For its part, David Cullen, the first journalist to arrive at the scene of the massacreregrets that the Columbine tragedy and similar events in churches, movie theaters, clubs and other places have been transformed into “spectacles” instead of being seen as a “plague of crimes.”
This year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) implemented new rules to prevent tens of thousands of unauthorized and unregistered sellers from selling firearms without checking whether the buyer is legally authorized to purchase them.
However, for Adam Shore, director of Colorado Ceasefire, the promise to prevent the purchase of firearms (such as assault rifles) without undergoing background checks has been broken 25 years after the massacre.
Survivors of the massacre speak
Missy Mendo He was 14 years old when the massacre occurred. She ran out of her math class and managed to survive, but 25 years later the trauma of that horrendous day still haunts her.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mendo, who is now 39 years old, mentioned that April is a particularly difficult month for her. “My brain turns to mush every year.”he admitted.
People like Missy are affected by common situations, such as the sound of fireworks, which can trigger disturbing memories.
Heather Martinanother survivor of the massacre and now 42 years old, was in her final year at Columbine in 1999.
At the university she began to cry during a fire drill, and this is because a fire alarm was ringing for three hours while she and 60 other students took shelter inside an office during the high school shooting.
According to the AP, Martin was unable to return to that class and has been noted absent ever since. He says he failed after refusing to write a final essay on school violence, despite telling his teacher about his experience at Columbine.
Keep reading:
– Kamala Harris visited the Parkland massacre site to push for new gun laws.
– 12-year-old boy arrested for shooting threat at Massachusetts high school.