Why America is standing up against mass shootings 19 years after Columbine | Opinion

By Connie Hassett-Walker

Nineteen years ago this Friday, 12 young people and one teacher were murdered on that terrible day at Columbine High School in Colorado.

There have since been a number of equally horrible mass shootings, including at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the Las Vegas concert shooting last October, and two months ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. At least five campus shootings have occurred since the Parkland tragedy.

Some New Jersey residents are understandably anxious: If it happened there, it could happen here, couldn't it? As The Star-Ledger and NJ.com have reported, in the two weeks after the Parkland shooting, 17 individuals in New Jersey were arrested for making threats against schools. Charges ranged from threatening to blow up a school to bringing a gun on school grounds to making terroristic threats.

According to acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino, it is typical for threat-related calls to increase in the month after an event like the Parkland shooting.

Also understandably, there is popular support for gun-control measures. New Jersey and Florida have taken an early lead on passing, or moving toward passing, legislation to prevent future gun crime. Gov. Phil Murphy has signaled his intention to get tough on gun violence and strengthen New Jersey's already-strict gun laws. This has included signing an executive order to identify the origins of firearms used in gun crimes in the state.

I offer some facts that may help lessen folks' anxiety.

First, very few mass shootings have happened in New Jersey, likely because the Garden State has some of the country's strictest gun laws. Guns & Ammo magazine lists New Jersey as the third-worst state in the U.S. to live in for gun owners, because of the strictness of the state's laws.

Second, gun violence in the state has been declining. According to data from the New Jersey State Police, the "violent crime index" and firearms-related crimes have steadily declined for the past six years. In 2011, the overall violent-crime index for New Jersey was 27,173 violent crimes. In 2017, it had fallen to 20,653, a 24 percent decrease from 2011. The declines from 1999, the year of the Columbine shooting, through 2017 are even greater.

There was something about the Parkland shooting that shifted the national conversation in a way that previous mass shootings -- including at Columbine High School -- did not. Perhaps it was that the Stoneman Douglas High School survivors -- articulate young people -- jumped into the debate. They knew something terrible had happened to them and their classmates, and wondered aloud why legislators would hesitate to pass gun-control measures.

Corporations such as Delta Air Lines, Hertz and Enterprise car rental responded by cutting their discounts for National Rifle Association members. Dick's Sporting Goods announced it would stop selling "assault-style rifles" similar to the AR-15-style rifle used in the Parkland shooting. A nationwide student walkout -- a "movement" -- to protest gun violence is now planned for Friday's anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Around 50 New Jersey schools are expected to participate.

Florida recently passed a law that included provisions including raising the minimum age to purchase a gun, and creating a waiting period to purchase a firearm.

The New Jersey Assembly has passed six gun-control bills, a vote in the state Senate is scheduled for June 7, and Murphy is expected to sign them. The new laws would, among other things, limit the number of bullets a gun's magazine can hold, and allow for law enforcement to take an individual's guns away if it was determined that the gun owner posed a threat to himself or others.

Many gun owners are, understandably, furious at the prospect of more regulation, and in reality they -- the law-abiding citizen gun owners -- will be impacted more than criminals.

But politically, the time for stalling on gun control appears to be over.

Connie Hassett-Walker is an associate professor in Kean University's Department of Criminal Justice. She is the author of "Guns on the Internet" (Routledge/Taylor & Francis), coming to bookshelves in August.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.