Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Joe O'Dea has a plan to protect our kids and our communities

This article appeared in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

The shooting at Columbine High School changed our country forever. For the families of those who lost their lives, and for those of us who survived the events of that unspeakable morning, the toll has been greater than words can ever say.

Sadly, these shootings have happened time and time again in our country. There is simply no doubt, America needs big and bold action.

That is why Joe O’Dea’s approach is appealing. The construction executive and political newcomer running for the United States Senate has a big idea: cut waste in the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy, and use those dollars to get more cops on the street, more law enforcement presence in our schools, and enlarge our commitment to enforcing the hundreds and hundreds of gun laws on our state and federal books.

President Joe Biden just signed a law ordering the hiring of 87,000 new IRS auditors, agents and staff. O’Dea’s plan is compelling: zero-out those IRS hires, and shift resources to hire more border agents and to support a ramp-up in hiring of local police in communities across the country. It’s not just our schools that are unsafe. Crime is exploding across the country, and we need our leaders to act. O’Dea’s plan is strong and smart. I bet its why O’Dea has been endorsed by sheriffs from around Colorado and by the Denver Police Union.

O’Dea’s commitment to protecting our kids and our communities is what makes the attack ads targeting him by Washington, D.C. Super PACs so outrageous. These ads feature footage from a number of shootings, including Columbine. The gross politicization of Columbine, the Aurora theater and other tragic shootings by Super PACs promoting Senator Bennet are dishonest, outrageous and an insult to the lives and memories of those lost.

In the first place, the decision by these pro-Bennet Super PACs to use the raw footage of shootings at Columbine and Aurora constitutes a new low even by the sleazy standards of American politics. Is there nothing sacred, is there no line of decency that will not be crossed or must everything in our society become a political football? We agree with former Colorado Attorney General John Suthers: use of the video footage from shootings is “tawdry.”

These ads bring back a wave of emotion for survivors and families. To use a tragedy without consideration of victims and survivors is shameful.

What’s more, the advertisements paint a false impression that nothing was done after Columbine and Aurora to try to stop similar shootings. If only we would pass another gun law, the advertisement suggests, these shootings would stop. This, we know, is the most dishonest statement of all by the anti-O’Dea Super PACs.

Check the record. After Columbine, Colorado voters overwhelmingly passed new gun restrictions. And still the shootings persisted. After the Aurora theater shootings, the Colorado legislature added another new battery of gun restrictions. And still, the shootings persisted. In the decade since, numerous laws have been enacted in Colorado and in states across the union. And still, the tragedies continue.

This is the truth. It is not debatable. A bunch of politicians in Denver or Washington, D.C. passing another gun law will not solve this national crisis.

That is why I agree with Joe O’Dea. There are enough gun laws. We need more cops in schools and on the street. We need more law enforcement. We need tougher prison sentences for violent offenders. We need to redouble our commitment to early identification of threats, and we need a massive commitment to mental health.

The attempts to smear Joe by using the images of the tragedies at Columbine and Aurora is disgusting and wrong. Joe O’Dea has a real plan to protect our schools and kids: more cops enforcing existing gun laws, and a more comprehensive approach to identifying and treating mental health issues in our schools and communities.

Mike Leary is a Columbine survivor.