Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, there have been 398,000 students that have been exposed to gun violence in school, according to The Washington Post in 2025. There have been over 435 school shootings since 1999.

Thirteen people were left dead and 23 were injured as a result of the Columbine shooting, and yet it wasn’t enough for any real change to be enacted on the federal level.

On March 12, there was a shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia, with one person dead and two others rushed to the hospital with injuries, according to CNN. You probably didn’t even hear about it, and if you did, you may have already forgotten.

With other national stories — like Donald Trump’s war in Iran — in the news taking up all the front-page space, it’s hard to keep news of school shootings relevant. But the problems aren’t getting any better. It feels like there’s a new school shooting almost every week, and it’s hard to believe after a tragedy as disastrous as Columbine, problems have only gotten worse.

In 1999, shortly after the Columbine shooting, senior leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) met on a conference call to consider canceling their annual convention in Denver, called World Class Guns & Gear Expo, because of the tragedy.

They were most concerned with how it all looked on their end, but they decided that canceling the convention would give the media something to manipulate against them.

“The message that it will send is that even the NRA was brought to its knees, and the media will have a field day with it,” said NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer.

Since then, not a lot has changed, especially in regard to the NRA’s astute ability to divert responsibility on the school shooting front.

Just yesterday, the NRA filed an amicus brief asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to invalidate the state’s restriction of concealed carry licenses and firearms transport for people under 21 years old, according to the brief. They want to change the age to allow for 18 year olds and above to be eligible for conceal carry licenses.

According to Statistica, there have been 175 school shooters between the ages of 18 and 20 between 1970 and 2020.

The NRA obviously did not take this fact into consideration when filing with the court.

Their meeting in 1999 reflects their thoughts today, a complete lack of accountability for these tragedies.

The way they saw it, conservative politicians had little to do with school shootings, in fact it seems they feel guns have little to do with school shootings, at least the ones they are displaying to adults and children alike at their annual expo just a short drive away from Columbine high school.