Colorado’s history with mass shootings
By Britney Eschelman, staff writer
Colorado, commonly known as the Centennial State and famously a Mile High, is known for its diverse landscape of deserts, river canyons and snow covered Rocky Mountains. Its captivating landscape and cultural capital, Denver, brings in a wide variety of people that want to live and experience the state that has 300 days of sunshine year round. However, while Colorado is full of beauty, the state has a rather ugly history with one event in particular. Much like our world is infected with the Coronavirus pandemic, Colorado is plagued by the gun violence epidemic happening in the United States.
So why is a state that seems so bright filled with such darkness?
In order to understand the continuous mass shootings, it’s imperative to look into the history with gun violence in the state. According to an article in the Washington Post, the first notorious shooting in Colorado took place at a Chuck E. Cheese in 1993, where a previous worker of the franchise shot and killed four employees of the business he was fired from to “get even.” Since the first shooting in 1993, there have been six more mass shootings from Columbine High School, Century 16 movie theatre to King Soopers grocery store. It seems any public place is fit for a mass shooting in this state.
Time and time again, Colorado residents have experienced tragic loss and heartbreak from mass shootings within the past 30 years. A 2019 Denver Post analysis found that, “The Census-designated Denver metropolitan statistical area has had more school shootings, per million people, than any of the country’s 24 other largest metro areas since 1999.” Additionally, Colorado ranked fifth in the nation for having the highest amount of mass shootings since 1999 according to an article in NBC News.
There is speculation that the Centennial State continues to rank high in this category for two reasons: the history with gun violence has caused a contagion effect and low restriction laws on gun ownership allow easier access to firearms.
In regards to whether gun violence is contagious, a study in Psychology Today researched the social patterns that lead to an influx of gun violence and found, “It’s not that one incident leads to the next but that many incidents continue to occur in one area because of enabling factors, like easy access to guns.” The Columbine High School shooting sent shock waves through the entire country and influenced schools around America to enforce shooting protocols. The mass shootings following the tragedy at Columbine High School are most likely efforts to copy the tendencies of those shooters because of the large amount of media coverage and attention those shooters received. According to an article in the National Center for Health Research, “The American Psychological Association points out that this “fame” is something that most mass shooters desire.”
Another possible reason for these continuous mass shootings in Colorado may pertain to the states low restriction gun laws. According to Colorado gun laws, it is legal for gun owners to carry a firearm in a “dwelling, place of business, or automobile.” In order to obtain a concealed weapon permit, one must obtain it through their county sheriff’s office. Although, gun owners are not required to register their weapons in Colorado and the state law explicitly says, “the State of Colorado prohibits gun registration.” In 2018, the city of Boulder banned the sale and possession of assault weapons from the area, according to an article in CNN. On March 12, just 10 days before the King Soopers mass shooting, Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman blocked the city from enforcing its ban on assault weapons because it apparently contradicted state law.
In response to these low restriction gun laws, Boulder Mayor Pro Tem, Junie Joseph, spoke on BNC News about two days after the King Soopers shooting and her message about gun reform directed to Congress. “We will move past this, but we have to move forward effectively and I think it is up to the people in Congress to do their job, to get together and pass gun reform. It’s so important. These senseless murders have to stop,” said Joseph. In addition to Councilwoman Joseph’s call for better gun reform, Colorado Rep. Tom Sullivan from the 37th district in Arapahoe County, has sponsored state legislation to introduce mandatory waiting periods for background checks on gun owners in the state, according to an article in the Independent.
Colorado residents have had enough with what seems to be never ending tragedy in the state from mass shooting events. Students from Columbine High School started the My Last Shot campaign to attempt at ending gun violence. This campaign allows people to preemptively give consent to others to have access to photos of their body if they die from gun violence. Similarly, to registering as an organ donor and having that shown on your driver’s license, all you need to give consent to this campaign is an affirmative signature on a sticker.
Although there is no one specific reason as to why gun violence in Colorado is so prevalent, there is reason to research why it has plagued this incredibly beautiful state. Looking at the history of gun violence is one of the best ways we can try to solve this issue, but there is more work to be done before finding the future solution.
