To me, Columbine High School near Denver was a normal school in a normal suburb, not the site of the worst school shooting in U.S. history. The name still gives me a jolt- I hear a newscaster say it or it’s used as a verb – “pulling a Columbine” – shooting a lot of people at a school.
           
A 1986 graduate of Columbine, I have been thinking of my alma mater as I follow the debate on whether assault weapons like Uzis and AK-47s should be legal again- as they will be if the 1994 law banning them that expires Sept. 13 isn’t renewed.
           
Criminals love assault weapons, a deadly combination of power and size. That’s why law enforcement led the fight for the original assault weapons ban and that’s why major law enforcement organizations across the country support renewing the ban.
           
In February, almost 200 police chiefs from 15 states sent a letter urging Congress to extend the ban. They know that with the ban about to expire, our police could face gunmen armed with legal weapons that include clips designed to hold lots of ammunition, flash suppressors, bayonets and even silencers.
           
The NRA squeals at every gun control measure. After all, guns don’t kill people, right? People kill people. And automatic weapons mean those people can kill massive amounts of people.
           
In 1989 at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, Calif., Patrick Purdy used an AK-47 assault rifle to kill five children and wound 29 others. With automatic weapons using large clips you don’t waste time reloading. Purdy shot 106 rounds in approximately 120 seconds. You can’t argue with that kind of efficiency.
           
As a result of the Stockton massacre, Congress in 1994 passed the Federal Assault Weapons Act. It bans 19 weapons by name and prevents the sale of military-style assault weapons and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. It made sense then and it makes sense now.

Gun industry ‘work-arounds’
Not surprisingly, the gun industry has developed some work-arounds, manufacturing semi-automatic versions of full-automatic weapons. For example, the Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle that Washington, D.C., snipers used to kill 10 people is a semi-automatic version of the select-fire automatic AR-16 rifle used by the military.
           
Gun advocates are big on personal responsibility. I am, too. My personal responsibility is to get something done about the assault weapons ban.
           
Congress did nothing after Columbine. Does it now want to give the green light to our streets being filled with Uzis?
           
On Mother’s Day, May 9, I’ll be in Washington, D.C., for the Million Mom March “Halt the Assault” rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. It is to remind President Bush of his 2000 campaign promise to renew the assault weapons ban. A bipartisan majority of the Senate recently voted to renew it.
           
So Sunday, on the five-year anniversary of the Columbine taragedy, I’ll watch the inevitable replays of terrified kids streaming out of my old high school. But I will try to remember Columbine as it was before the sadness, and I will hope the president honors his promise and lessens the chances of somebody else “pulling a Columbine” with a legally purchased assault weapon.

HEIDI YEWMAN is a 1986graduate of Columbine High School. She lives in Vancouver with her family.

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