On March 22, Colorado was shocked with yet another mass shooting. With ten dead and none injured, questions of gun control and gun safety are sparked once again. 

     With this tragedy being the eighth fatal shooting Colorado has experienced in the last ten years, many students, parents, and teachers are beginning to question our school’s safety, once again. 

     Sophomore Ava Harding has used her Instagram to speak up about the issue, reposting from accounts that focus on advocacy. 

     “This one feels scarier because it’s so close to home. Not that there’s any good reason to shoot up a place but why a grocery store? Those people did nothing wrong, they were just doing an everyday thing. It’s terrifying knowing I could be killed not only at my school but with my family at the store too,” Harding said.

     School safety has been a concern for years in  Colorado. After the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, campaigns like ‘Safe to Tell’ were created in order to prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future. 22 years later, many would argue that these attempts at solving this issue have barely made a dent. 

     “I feel like no one is taking this situation as seriously as they should; these things keep happening because we refuse to go to where this really starts. Almost all of these incidents occured because of mental health issues that are unrecognized and unresolved. There are not nearly enough mental health outlets available for young people. The world is a lot different than it was when our parents were kids, and they don’t understand how heavily our brain chemistry is altered because of social media,” source said. 

     After the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 which left 17 dead and 17 injured, gun control laws were protested heavily, with a national school ‘walk out’ that over 2,800 schools participated in (USA Today). These efforts were made in hopes of showing lawmakers that school staff and students felt unsafe with the current state of gun control laws. 

     “I think people shouldnt be able to buy military grade weapons if they are not in the military. It’s way too easy for anyone to get a gun. My view on school safety has changed a lot in the past few years, especially after parkland. With the Boulder shooting happening so close to home, it feels like I’m unable to feel safe anywhere. Schools are unsafe, but apparently grocery stores are too. And walking on the street, and sitting in your own house. Our country needs some serious change,” Source said.