State lawmaker, a former Columbine student, seeks to arm Colorado teachers

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Columbine High School rescue after shooting

SCREENSHOT/Columbine High School students Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, killed 12 students and one teacher on April 20, 1999.

Patrick Neville was a student on the campus of Columbine High School on the spring day in 1999 when two students went on a premeditated rampage that claimed 13 innocent lives.

Now he’s a Colorado state representative. Neville introduced a bill this week that would, according to the Denver Post, “allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit the right to conceal and carry firearms in public schools.”

Neville’s father, Colorado State Sen. Tim Neville, is the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. Both men are Republicans. In a press release, Patrick Neville said the legislation aims to “allow honest law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm for protection if they choose to,” and that “it will give them the right to be equipped to defend our children from the most dangerous situations.

“As was the case in 1999, criminals aren’t deterred by a flashy sign on the door. The only thing that is going to stop murderers intent on doing harm is to give good people the legal authority to carry a gun to protect themselves and our children.”

In addition to the two shooters, who finally killed themselves, 12 students and one teacher died in the shocking mass murder, which occurred on April 20, 1999. Another 21 people were injured.

The younger Neville said he believes the tragedy could have been much shorter-lived and less deadly if Columbine faculty had access to concealed weapons on that day.

“Our teachers and faculty were heroic in so many ways that day. That’s why I truly believe had some of them had the legal authority to be armed, more of my friends would still be alive today,” he said.

A Quinnipiac poll conducted last year revealed half of Colorado voters approved of the idea of allowing teachers to carry firearms on the job.

Personal Liberty

Ben Bullard

Reconciling the concept of individual sovereignty with conscientious participation in the modern American political process is a continuing preoccupation for staff writer Ben Bullard. A former community newspaper writer, Bullard has closely observed the manner in which well-meaning small-town politicians and policy makers often accept, unthinkingly, their increasingly marginal role in shaping the quality of their own lives, as well as those of the people whom they serve. He argues that American public policy is plagued by inscrutable and corrupt motives on a national scale, a fundamental problem which individuals, families and communities must strive to solve. This, he argues, can be achieved only as Americans rediscover the principal role each citizen plays in enriching the welfare of our Republic.