TRUE CRIME FRIDAY: A RETURN TO COLUMBINE

Ninetoes revisits the school shooting that changed America, and with good reason.

Hey there, true crime lovers! It is your old pal, Ninetoes, coming at you with True Crime Friday. I have coffee in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

Today, we are looking at the Columbine Shooting in Colorado.

On April 20^th, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both 12th-grade students, went to school and killed 13 students and one teacher. Twenty other people were injured by gunfire. The two also exchanged gunfire with police officers, but no one was hit on either side. Harris and Klebold died by suicide.

Harris and Klebold intended for this to be a bombing event first and a shooting event second. They had planned this event for a year, and when the day came, they placed homemade bombs throughout the school, but the bombs failed to detonate.

The police were slow to enter the school and react to the shootings. They were heavily criticized for this failure. As a result, the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD) tactic was introduced for active shooter situations, with an emphasis on school shootings, and a zero-tolerance policy was introduced.

The Columbine shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in a K-12 school in United States History until 2012 (Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.) The word “Columbine” has become synonymous with school shootings.

As of 2025, the Columbine Shooting is the deadliest mass shooting event in Colorado, and one of the deadliest in the United States…

ONE of the deadliest in the United States.

I have a problem with the word “ONE” in that sentence.

Since 1999, there have been 118 active shooter incidents reported in a K-12 school. That is 118 incidents in twenty-six years, which averages to 4.5 incidents a year, which in my mind is 4.5 incidents a year too many! And this is just in K-12 schools! The number goes higher when you factor in other mass shootings in our country.

The United States ranks first in the world in mass shootings. We are ranked 38^th in Math and 24^th in Science worldwide, but first in mass shootings. How I wish those numbers were reversed, where we would be first in education and 38^th or last in mass shootings.

One of the problems is that politicians and people in charge are quick to offer thoughts and prayers, but no solutions. As I write this, there was another mass shooting. This time in Minneapolis at a Catholic school. Two children were killed while they were praying. Seventeen people were injured: 14 students aged 6 to 15 and an additional three adults who are in their 80s.

Politicians are slow to give any kind of answer. Some presidents have said they were coming for the guns, and the response has been, “You can take my guns out of my cold, dead hands.” The NRA is one of the most powerful lobbies, and its claws are sunk in deep on Capitol Hill.

Will anything be done?

Can anything be done?

Well, something CAN be done, but the question is, will it? The sad truth is that a new school year is starting, as in addition to math tests, active shooter drills happen, and unfortunately, there will be more shootings.

That being said, I do have some ideas to START solving this problem.

1) Guns should be licensed. If you have to get a license for an automobile or motorcycle, you should need one for a gun. The license needs to be renewed every two years or you need to relinquish your gun

2) Everyone who goes to buy a gun should have a mental health check before ownership.

3) Gun safety classes are mandatory, and passing the class with a 100% score is mandatory as well.

4) Owning a sturdy safe place for the gun is mandatory. If children reside in a home where the guns are kept, the sturdy place needs to be well out of the child’s reach.

Surely these can be agreed upon.

Right?

Something has to be done. Another mass shooting should not be the norm anymore.

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.